Finding Samus
by Zaith Falken
Summary: Follow up to BOUNTY HUNTER'S REWARD. Lieutenant Spencer gets sent on a mission to find Samus. What could possibly go wrong when he starts his journey? R&R por favor. Enjoy. Rated M for stuff AGAIN!
1. Chapter 1

HALO MOTO!

Its ZF here. Round two with a Metroid Fic. I dont know, I was checking my last one out again, and I thought maybe I could do something else with it. And here we go. This one continues the story, but without the MA content... hopefully. I'm trying to keep that stuff out.

Warning! If you wanna catch up, feel free. BOUNTY HUNTERS REWARD in the M section. Be warned, it's got adult content. You know what I mean by adult.

Also note: i'm planning on retracting a couple lines from one of the later chapters of the original, for continuity purposes. I just had a super awesome idea, and I like it. So theres the heads up. The next chapter should have an update on that.

Okay, I'm done. Read on!

* * *

"Hello," I said to the secretary. "I'm here to see the commander."

"Are you Lieutenant Spencer?" she asked, looking up at me.

"I am."

"Can you wait one moment?"

She lowered a single finger onto the com channel, and soon relayed a message to the commander.

"Sir, The lieutenant is here to see you."

"Good. Send him in, Janis," replied the commander.

She removed her finger from the com channel, and then pressed another button on her desk. The door to the commander's office opened, and I could see the natural oak desk at the far side of the room. Quite a rarity these days.

"There he is," the secretary said to me.

"Thank you," I said politely. I then moved forward, my cover still tucked underneath my arm, and then paused in front of his desk. I took my time getting there. My eyes wanted to examine the room, to ensure my own personal safety. Heights were not my favorite subject.

The room seemed right. That is, for a commander. To the right, there was an extensive bar, outfitted with numerous bottles of rums, brandies, and a few bottles of tequila. All synthetically generated, of course. Rum, brandy, and tequila haven't been made naturally in almost two thousand years, not since the earth ozone was ruptured from massive amounts of pollutants.

Behind the commanders desk, and past the commander himself, was the large glass window, which I was grateful that I did not have to get close to. I understand that these windows are manufactured to prevent suicide jumps from employees, though I wasn't about to put that to the test.

To my left was another table. Much like the bar in styling, it was devoid of alcohol and had a music command station, obviously for the commanders listening pleasure. Too bad only commanders had this kind of luxury; I wouldn't mind listening to a song or two during the slow days down in the legal offices.

"Ah, lieutenant, good to see you. Please, take a seat."

There were two seats for me. Both were minimalist, with a small, light weight frame, and only enough of a seat for some minor back support. I chose the closet one to me.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Straight to the point are we? Well, we can hold off on that for now. Care for a drink?"

He motioned to the bar, before rising from his seat and walking over. "No, thank you," I replied. I wasn't much of a drinker. A real light-weight. He continued to pour the two of use drinks of brandy, then walked back over and handed me a glass.

"Come on, it won't kill you."

"No, thank you," I said again. Yet he didn't budge. He continued to hold the glass before me, so I got a hold of the cup and he went to his seat. I then placed the glass carefully upon his desk. He frowned, but he didn't push it further.

While he took his first swig, I took the time to examine the commander. He was an older gentlemen, probably a war veteran from the Belkan war. He was getting old though, his hair already turning grey, though his mustache was still a light brown. The commander wore two rows of ribbons on his uniform, yet like most ribbons and awards, I knew not what they were for. His name tag read Germane.

"I take it your wondering why I've called you here today. Am I right?"

"You are," I said calmly.

"Well, there's something I'd like you to do for me, lieutenant. Something of the utmost importance."

I was a little curious. Normally, whenever I heard the words "utmost importance," it meant I was supposed to pull a few strings here and there, or simply look the other way on certain legal matters. I decided to go the hard route, and stay by the law.

"Sir, is this a legal matter?" I asked.

"No, no. This is something completely different. I have… A mission for you."

"A mission?"

"Yes."

Commander Germane took another swig of his brandy, wetting his tongue. He took a deep breath, and then rested his left hand on his desk before continuing.

"For the last several days, I've been looking at a number of candidates to fulfill this mission. And after plenty of deliberation, I've decided that you would be the best man for the job."

"And what would I have to do in this mission?"

"You are to find the bounty hunter Samus Aran and give her this data log."

After he says this, he lifts a small data pad off his desk. The screen is blank, shut off for the time being. He held it forward, and I take it from him with careful fingers.

"You want me… to deliver this… to Samus Aran?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I'm sorry, but that's classified."

After another glance at the data pad, I placed it back down onto Commander Germane's desk. I didn't like this word, classified, but I wasn't sure what to think just yet, and I still had questions.

"No, I mean why do I need to deliver this? Can't it be relayed to her or something?"

"Unfortuantely, we can't find her. That's why I want you to deliver it."

"But why me? I'm a legal consultant."

"There are several reasons why I chose you. First, your character. From all the reports I've read about you from your superiors, you never cease to amaze. You have followed protocol to the T, and you have gone above and beyond to get results. This ties into the second reason. You're a hard worker."

"No offense, sir, but don't flatter me."

I didn't like this. I've taken flattery from superiors before. All have tried to butter me up for some foolish decision. I hate it when they do that, acting like I'm some idiot who doesn't know anything. I'm not going to break the law, not over flattery. Especially over flatter.

"Now, why did you choose me?" I continue.

"You really are a lawyer…" He pauses. He raises his spare hand to his forehead, where where he rubs his temple slowly. The frustration is beginning to show. "Lieutenant, I chose you because of your detective skills."

"My detective skills?" I say. I just can't believe he said that.

"Precisely," he says, matter of factly. "I've read the reports you and your superiors turned in. Going out of your way to find the truth, it's very noble of you."

"Flattery."

"No, really. The Raigar case comes to mind. Working so hard, just to help the defendant, even though you were representing the plaintiff."

"I couldn't let him go to prison. He was being framed."

"I know. There are also the other cases, such as Bale versus Walton, Denton versus Mancini, and before I forget, there was the case between the Federation officer and the Belkan that you assisted greatly in as a consultant and witness."

"The Belkan was innocent. I couldn't let him get an execution sentence."

"And why is that?"

"Because it would be wrong."

"You stood up for the Belkan, even though the plaintiff was a Federation officer. One of your colleagues."

"Saunders was lying! He was gonna send an innocent man to his death, even if he was a Belkan. I couldn't let him get away with that!"

I remembered that case. The day before my testimony, I overheard Saunders telling the whole truth before his lawyer. It was disgusting, how he had killed all of those innocent people, and then placed the blame on the Belkan. Bastard. Good thing I had my recorder on me, or I would never have been able to have proved it in court.

"Even though-"

"I took an oath to uphold the law when I became a member of the Federation," I said, pride and truth in my voice. "I swore I would help people, not detroy innocent lives. I'm not about to go back on that oath, sir."

"And that's why I chose you. You do what's right. You do what you have to do to make sure things go right."

"And what does that have to do with this mission, sir?"

"When you leave this office, I know that you're going to do your research. You're going to look for as much information as you can before making a good, decisive judgment."

I was finished with this. The commander was just trying to butter me up. I wasn't going to be someone's delivery boy. With a quick thrust of my arm, I pushed myself up to my feet and started for the door. Proper etiquettes were gone, I wasn't going to say goodbye, not until I at least got to the door.

"Wait, lieutenant."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not interested."

I continued for the door. I had almost read the doorway, almost put my foot through, but he spoke those three words. Three words, and I froze.

"Seventy five thousand."

"What?"

"The pay. Seventy five thousand credits, and we'll pay for all expenses."

"Seventy five thousand, plus expenses…"

Now we're talking. That's more then my yearly salary. But even if I accepted, I didn't know where to start. I didn't know where Samus was. I didn't know what he was doing. I didn't know where he was even on a mission at the moment.

"… Is there anything you can tell me about him? Last where abouts maybe?"

"Last I heard, Samus was given mission to help with the destruction on a planet known as Eigen. Perhaps that may be of some use to you."

"Perhaps…"

"Oh, and Samus is female."

"What? She's a woman?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Finally I friggin finished. This one has been a pain, for some reason. Shorter then I expected it to be, too. Also, I'm changing the rating to T (for TRANS-FATS) because I don't plan on doing anything too crazy, save for maybe killing a bunch of things, but that should be fine.

Well, I hope everyone enjoys it. There will be more, because I won't rest (alot) until I finish the story. I gotz teh planz!!!1

* * *

The buildings glowed as the sun beat down on their metallic frames. I stared out through the city transport window, my luggage in the rear, waiting to arrive at the space port for my flight. I hid my eyes from the sun as we passed another intersection, the blinding light more then enough to make me hope to return to my room sooner. 

It's been three days since Commander Germane gave me the mission, and that data pad. Not that it mattered, I couldn't use it. It was protected with a special password, which changed itself every few seconds, leaving me with nothing but an eye sore. During the spare time I had on my hands, I began my search for Samus, checking Galactic Federation records to see what she had been up to for the last month. This did not draw results, so I checked month upon month for her, looking to see if the Galactic Federation might have given her missions recently. This was not the case. Only the mission on Eigen came up, and that was eight months ago.

My search for her became even more difficult when I tried to search for her through flight logs. Space ports regularly update their logs with Central Command on Zen three, or Earth two as it was originally designated by earthlings three thousand years ago. Unfortunately, I was only granted permission to look through the flight logs of the Space ports here on Alsonair. I had checked these early on, but I checked again just in case, perhaps in hope that I might have missed something. I found nothing of use.

I did, however, get a good bit of luck yesterday. The local Bounty Hunter guild was kind enough to grant me a quick view through their recent records. My friend Elly, a Cathalian and an ex-federation officer, had become one of the book keepers at the guild, and I asked for a favor. She was maintenance, really. She was just to make sure that she keep the logs up and running, so that they could be called upon by the head quarters out on Bendek seven.

Elly was rather glad to see me. We hadn't spoken in some time, seeing as I was still Federation, and that I always kept busy with new cases. She's a Cathalian, or cat person, as the earthlings say. She actually had a thing for me, or so she said once. I was flattered, but at the time, it wouldn't have been professional for us to be together. That's not to say I didn't like her. She was… We were close, you could say. But we never did anything. We kissed once, but that was a long time ago. I thought she looked brilliantly in the moonlight and… I should stop that. I've got a task to get to.

At the space port, I went through security quickly with a flash of my Federation badge, and then went quickly to the transport I had scheduled a flight with. The flight was heading to Nashinar, a run down merchant planet out past NGC 8910, the Trilor galaxy. After a stop on Nashinar, the transport would head to Velia one, a tropical planet in NGL 1092, the same galaxy that was home to Viking one, a planet known for their strong warrior people. That was where Samus was last reported being heard from, at least by the guilds information. That was my destination. I doubted she was still there, but there was a good chance someone there would be able to tell me where she went off to.

The transport was civilian. I had already checked with the Galactic Federation flights, and the next ship to head toward Velia one would take approximately eight months to get there, too much time for my tastes. Thus, I planned to ride on the C.S.S. Fame.

When I found the Fame, I saw a man, human, male, standing by the boarding gate, a data pad in his hand. He was a strong looking man, perhaps from working out a lot during his travels. Seeing as a federation flight to Velia one would take months, I guessed there was often plenty of time on the hands of crew mates.

I took a gander at the ship. A good looking vessel, to say the least. It was large, more then large enough to handle dozens of people for transport. The size was probably just for cargo though; I doubted that the captain actually would want so many people on the ship at one time.

"Just looking, or are you gonna ask to board?" said the man.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Alex Spencer," I said, walking up to him, my personal luggage carrier floating beside me. "I made reservations with the captain yesterday."

"Ah, you made it. Good to see you could make it. I'm Hunter, unprofessional meeter and greeter."

"I'm not late, am I?"

"No, no. It's just that you're the last passenger to get here."

"I see…"

"Well, you'll be needin' to get on board before we load all the cargo. Head inside, Tasha will help you out when you get inside."

"Tasha?"

"Yep. You can't miss her, she'll be helping the other passengers out with their things."

"Thank you."

Hunter moved to the side a little, giving me enough room for me to enter the ship through a slim walkway attached to the entry door. I pulled the carrier along carefully, and then stopped when Hunter called out to me when I was near the door.

"Hey, uh, Spencer, before I forget."

"Yeah?"

"Don't hit on Tasha. She'll kill ya for it."

He smiled a little after saying that. Perhaps he was just being funny, telling me some sort of inside joke. I couldn't help but feel uneasy from the remark.

"Uh-huh. Thanks."

I entered the ship, and then followed a lengthy hallway into what appeared to be a cargo holding area. The room was large enough to be a storage warehouse, though the room was empty, devoid of the mammoth crates I was expecting to see. However, as I stood there, examining the room, I hadn't the slightest idea where to go. I was lead to the halfway mark of one the walkways high above the floor of the cargo bay, and was given two options to proceed in, left or right. I closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and then chose.

I went left.

With my carrier behind me, I walked quickly ahead, and soon came to a doorway, followed by a few steps allowing the floor to be raised higher then the walkway I currently stood on. The carrier raised to the appropriate height as I walked up the stairs, then followed diligently as I led it down the hallway.

The hallway was well lit, fortunately, as there were several pits lining both walls, probably leading to specific rooms for maintenance and repairs. Farther down the hallway, I came to a three way intersection, with one hall connecting directly with this hallway, while the length of the current hallway bent toward the nose of the craft. The adjacent hallway brought the sound of bustling passengers and conversations. I figured that this was where I should go, so I entered the hallway, and found a lengthy bit of stairs heading downward. I proceeded carefully down, ensuring that the carrier wouldn't topple forward as it went downstairs, breathing a sigh of relief once I touch base with the floor below.

The room I entered reminded me slightly of the cargo bay. The room was large, and consisted of six block sections, each sunken about two feet into floor. There were people here, mostly humans, chatting amongst themselves in the middle of the room, in between the sections. There were, however, two humans helping a female Na-Knar, or dog person by earthling standards, move luggage into one of the sections. They finished quickly, and one of the humans, male, went to the others with the Na-Knar behind him.

The other human, female, noticed me with my luggage, and walked over to me. Her physique was amazing. Even through her clothing, I could easily tell she had the strong, firm muscles of an experienced fighter, perhaps those of a mercenary. She had dark brown hair, but her vibrant green eyes shown brilliantly against her lightly tanned cream skin. She immediately extended her hand, which I took a hold of quickly when she came to me, all the while trying to prevent myself from going a tad flush in the cheeks.

"Lieutenant Spencer, I presume," she said, a light smile on her lips.

"And you're Tasha, from my understanding," I said smiling.

Her smile vanished, anger bubbling up in her eyes. She pulled me by my arm, and then raised her knee, striking me in the stomach. I hadn't expected this, and I couldn't prevent it. She clutched me by the throat, and with a quick, powerful thrust, she shoved me against the wall of one of the sections. She then went put me under gun point, as well as choking me half to death.

"How do you know that name, Federation scum?!"

"Can't… breath…"

"Talk, worm!"

"Let him go, Hannah," said a new voice.

Through restricted by my assailant's hand, I managed to view the owner of the voice. I found a tall black man standing at the corner of the section, a blaster still holstered at his hip. He looked calm, calculating. It took a moment, but I recognized the face to be Captain Dandridge.

She let go. I hadn't the time to catch my footing and fell to my knees, gasping for air. I tugged at my collar, losing the buttons on my jacket. Good thing I wasn't in uniform; I would have had to take off the entire thing.

"Speak," said the man. He hadn't even moved an inch from before. He was just watching.

"… Hu… Hu… Hunter. He said… You were… Tasha."

"Hunter…" She said.

"Oh, did I miss the party?"

I recognized that voice. I had to be Hunter's. I could almost taste the joy he had, the laughter in his throat. He must have thought this funny. Fortunately I was the forgiving kind.

"What did I tell you about playing jokes on the passengers, Hunter?" Said the captain.

"What?" said Hunter, acting like he hadn't done anything wrong.

Both the captain and Hannah stared at him, and I could only look on with annoyance. This must have been rather intimidating in his eyes, having the three of us, as well as the other passengers looking at him.

"Alright, alright. I thought it'd be funny, that's all."

"Yeah," I started. "Funny."

Rising to my feet was definitely the hardest task thus far. It was a strange feeling, this ache. It hurt. Pain. There was something I hadn't truly felt since my basic training.

"Look, I'm sorry Spence," he said, shortening my last name. I preferred Alex, but Spence was sure to happen once in a while.

"Hunter, he's the lieutenant," said the captain.

"Wait, him? He's the officer?"

Hannah nodded. I imagined hearing his gulp, the tension in his heart beginning to rack his mind and his throat.

With Hunter at a loss for words, I walked over to my luggage. My bags had fallen off the carrier, probably when Hannah and begun to rough me up. I lifted my bags and placed them back onto the carrier.

"I'm terribly sorry, lieutenant," said Hunter, rushing over to me. He lifted my last piece of luggage onto the carrier, and then began to push it down the hall. "His room is the last one, right Hannah?"

"Yes," she said, shaking her hand.

Hunter quickly made his way past the group of passengers turned on-lookers, then halted and enter the last section in the far end of the room. While he worked, the captain captured my attention, initiating me in a conversation.

"I'm very sorry about this, lieutenant," said the captain.

"It's alright, captain," I said. "This isn't the first time someone has played a prank on me."

"Well, most pranks don't get you killed," said Hannah seriously. She had her blaster holstered, though it felt like she was keeping ready to incinerate me at any minute.

"Right you are…"

* * *

Well, by the time you've finished reading this, I've been playing Battlefield 2142. Maybe you've seen him. Oragul has killed a lot of people.  



	3. Chapter 3

Finally, I got past all the chimichangas... Wait... No... No chimichangas. Bad. Bad Zaith.

Yep. I'm tired. Schleepy sleepy. It's late, I've been working on the chapter for hours, just trying to get it right, you know. Pain the butt, writing can be. But now i've got a few plot arks I can work with, which I'll save me some boring writing monotony.

Also, I've changed A WORD in chapter 2 of Bounty Hunter's Reward. Check out the chapter to understand.

* * *

We were in our teens. Jaska was still a fledgling Federation planet, and the lack of technology only made it more popular as a vacation spot. Seeing so many off worlders at the time was amazing, and their mysteriousness, their mystique made them like legends in my eyes. I was very impressionable at the time. 

I lived farther away from the large cities, where most of the space travelers and traders came, so it wasn't often that I was allowed to view outsiders. Sheldon was our town name; it was where I was raised, as was Hiba. The majority of the village farmed the land, while some had managed to make a living as artisans and traders, bartering with the people of other villages. It was a small village. Everyone knew everyone. Information traveled fast among the townsfolk, and everyone pitched in to help each other out. It was survival that kept everyone together. It was survival that kept everyone there.

Generally, the families of the village would give birth and have families around the same time, around the age of twenty or so. Our village wasn't known for having people with long lives, living no longer then the age of fifty. The oldest person I knew at the time was old man Wart, who had survived forty eight years. Kids would be born around the same time so that the village could raise their children together, instead of having the burden all to themselves.

Yet our parents were young when they gave birth to us. It wasn't the first time a couple gave birth at an odd time. It happened. And so the families came together and helped ma and pa, and soon we were there, in the arms of two young parents. It would be another six years before another baby was born, along with all of the other children soon to come.

Hiba and I, we became close. She was my sister, I her brother. We were twins. We looked nothing alike. I had green eyes and brown hair, and looked much more like pa. Hiba had cherry blonde hair and blue eyes, just like ma. But like twins, we thought alike, and often. We like to play the same games, we liked the same stories, the same music, colors, and we even liked to explore the country side.

When we were six, the other babies began to come. Around that time, pa had started to teach me how to work on the farm, and ma started teaching Hiba how to do the house chores. Time passed, and it was more then apparent to both ma and pa that she was more of a tomboy then a house wife. So while the children played outside, we worked with pa to work the farm, growing crops. Occasionally, the other families asked us to watch over the children while they played, what with them becoming little explorers themselves. We grew up, and soon the kids could take care of themselves.

Yet we started to have those feelings. I tried to hide them at first. I think she did too. We just… didn't understand at first. I'm sure we didn't realize it at first, but we were very much alike to ma and pa, and it was more then just physical resemblances. We… She… I…

'Hiba…'

The lights came on then. I hadn't remembered them to be so bright, and my eyes certainly weren't prepared to the quick pain I felt from the brightness. I quickly hurled my hand to cover my eyes, shielding me from the over head lamps.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was anyone here."

Through the veil of the bright lights, I stole a glance of the door, only to feel the sting in my eyes again. Slowly, through cracked eyes, I forced myself to adjust, while contemplating who had spoken.

"It's alright," I said, being polite.

"Well, um… I'll just be a moment," said the voice, apologetically. Feminine. High pitched, at least, higher then mine. A rather pleasant tone, honestly. Can't say I wouldn't mind hearing more.

The padding of feet against the metallic floor came to my ear, pressing downward, and then peeling lightly away into the cool air. She stopped by the wall, though still a blur compared to the light. My eyes still couldn't focus too well. I heard a door open, like the suction of a refrigerator door being undone.

Then I could feel again. Strange, I thought I could feel already, but I hadn't even noticed the sweat dripping down my forehead. I was shaking. My hands, my feet, hell, my entire body was shaking. I thought back to my dream. I hadn't even noticed that I had started to dream again, not till now.

I looked down to the table. My eyes focused again, finally back to the way they should be. Somehow, I had drawn out the only photograph I ever cared to have. There, a top the plastic film of the table, laid the photograph of Hiba, the young smile, the clean teeth, the happiness in her. I…

Carefully, remembering the cold sweat, I rose from my seat, leaving the photograph, and heading to the sink. It was next to the refrigerator, just a few feet away. Next to her. Jazz Kel.

Jazz was the pygmy, or rabbit person. I hadn't seen her during my confrontation with Hannah, and only had a brief conversation with her earlier during dinner with the rest of the passengers and crew. At the time, I was too busy distancing myself from Hannah, as well as another passenger, a bounty hunter by the name of Hyun Chatel. I took note of the white bunny ears and fluffy tail, though from the looks of her, she looked like a regular human.

I walked over to the sink, and then set the faucet to warm. Water poured out, and I quickly began to make my hands into a make-shift cup, thus allowing myself to splash some water onto my face. I could feel the heavy drops of liquid lower to my chin, hanging around for a moment at the corner of my lips. As I hovered over the sink, my eyes watched as the faucet water sank into the dark hole in the middle, twisting and turning around it like some amusement park ride.

"Are you alright?" Jazz asked. From the corner of my eye, I could see her looking at me. Unfortunately, my peripheral vision would allow me the honor of distinguishing what face she showed me. I was half tempted to look, yet I simply went back to the water, taking another handful and dousing my eye lids with the warm sensation.

"No…" I said. I shook my head at my response, and then wet my cheeks once more. Yes…"

"Okay… I'll be going now."

Jazz started for the door, a plate full of what looked to be a sandwich in her hand. The sound of her feet sticking to the floor came to my ear for a moment, yet it stopped. She halted by the table. I wasn't sure why, but I ignored it and shut off the faucet, then dried my face with my shirt.

"Who's this?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"This photograph. Is it your's?"

"Oh. Yeah, it's mine."

"Well… Who is she?"

"Hiba…" I said quietly.

"Come again?"

"It's my sister. Hiba."

"Hiba… That's a nice name."

"..."

By now, you would think I would have turned around to face her, perhaps head over and take the photo from her. It wasn't exactly her rite to know her, or anything about my personal life, nor did I need to know anything of her. Maybe it'd be better without knowing each other… Yet I didn't move. I still faced the wall.

"She's very pretty," Jazz said. I wondered if she was being honest… Of course she was being honest, Hiba wasn't just pretty, and she was-

"Beautiful," I said, turning around to face her.

"Huh?"

"Hiba wasn't pretty," I said, moving over to the table, where I resumed my sitting position. "She was beautiful."

"Oh…"

She was holding the photo. The thin print card, even in its inexpensiveness, was near priceless to me. I've only had one copy of it made, which currently resides on my desk, back on Alsonair. This copy is the original, which I keep with me in a plastic sleeve, usually tucked in my shirt pocket. Kind of like a good luck charm… No, more like a reminder.

"I'll take that back now."

"Uh, sorry," she said, holding the photo ahead of her. "I just kinda saw it, and started looking at it and all."

"It's alright," I said, taking it from her. I then stowed it away into my shirt pocket, and afterwards, I leaned forward onto my elbows. I lowered my head a little, still exhausted.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. I just… I just had a nightmare. Nothing big."

"A nightmare? Aren't you a little old for those?"

"It's been a while since I've had one, yes."

I looked over to the door once more, finding the sliding door shut. After a moment, I rested my face in my palms, and slowly began to rub my eyes, feeling the fearsome fatigue starting to sweep over me once more.

"I think I should head back to my room," I said, rising from my seat.

"Well, sleep easy."

"Yup."

I left the mess hall, and entered the not so long hallway that would lead me back to the rooms... room? I'm not sure what you would call the place. The bunk? Barracks? Who knows.

As I walked down the hall, I gazed out the starboard side of the ship. I could see the thousands of the stars we quickly passed with the help of our warp drive. It was strange really, seeing the bright planets and sun becoming simply streaks of white to my eyes.

The view ended as the hallway shifted, leading me to the view of another person, heading my way. Before me walked Hyun, the bounty hunter who I kept my distance from earlier at dinner. We made eye contact, and he chose to stop.

"What are you doing up?" he said.

"Needed a glass of water. You?"

"Same."

"Hmm." I nodded lazily, and then started walking again. "Night."

My ears picked up the sound of his shoes lightly pounding away at the floor. His tempo sounded as if he had something important to do; perhaps he needed to look for something on the ship. He stopped, I continued, but soon I stopped when he called out to me.

"Hey, lieutenant."

"Yeah?" I said, turning around. I found him leaning against the rail on the wall, gazing out to the stars as I had a moment ago.

"You ever been on a ship like this before?"

"I rode a Federation cruiser once," I said.

"Uh-huh… You ever wonder how these warp drives work?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. There billions upon billions of rocks and debris out in space. The warp engines are pushing us real fast, you know. Just imagine how often we could die, just from hitting a little rock."

"But we don't," I said. I wasn't really in the mood for a space lecture. I just wanted to get to my room. Yet it'd be impolite if I just walked away. Might as well just endure it and answer his little questions.

"And why's that? Hmm?"

"… I don't know."

"Come on, guess."

"Fine… Shields?"

"Maybe, but I don't buy that one. How can a simple Ion shield keep us from blowing up into millions of little pieces?"

"You know, I'm just too tired to think of that right now. So, I'm gonna go ahead and head off to my room."

"Right. Sorry to keep ya."

With that behind me, I turned back around and proceeded to head back to my room. As I nearly got to the end of the hall, I looked back, and found that Hyun was still there, gazing out through the starboard glass. Perhaps he liked it out here in space.

After a quick trek, I made my way back into my room, where I locked the door, then started to shed my clothes. I walked into my personal bathroom, and then started up the shower. I needed to get all this sweat off of me. Once the water had warmed up enough, I stepped in and began to let the warm water soak up my body.

* * *

Last note for the night/day/whatEVA! - I don't know if I wrote it already (probably haven't), but if I didn't here goes. This story isn't about Samus kicking more ass and geting some. Kicking ass will happen, but this is character development time. Like I said, I had a new idea for the story, and I'm working on it. Samus WILL be seen, she will talk, yada yada. But the main focus isn't Samus kicking the crap out of more Space pirates and Metroids. Deal? Or no Deal?

Now go and yell at me via Rev's.


	4. Chapter 4

BLOODY FRIGGIN' HELL!

I Finally finished this chapter. Took me like... FOREVER AND A HALF x 172. That's alot.

Well. It ended up six pages in word. Fortunately, it looks alot neater here, then it did there, because even though I love the text wrapping, it just works so well here, and it didn't do anything good for my eyes back in WORD.

Well. I've got another little ark to go on within the next couple chapters, so there will be more to come. Don't worry, Samus will appear soon... Eventually... within... Hell i don't know, four, five chapters. Just be patient and enjoy the story. She'll be here. I swear!

So enjoyo. Boyo. Pollo.Gondules... Bacon!

* * *

We had arrived had arrived on Nashinar quietly at 5:30 in the morning, planet time of course. I adjust my watch for changes, upon Hannah's suggestion just before touch down. Dandridge made it a point to speak to everyone on board over the speakers about it, as well as making sure to tell everyone that we would be leaving at midnight, with or with out anyone who didn't make it back onto the ship in time. Deadlines, I'm sure.

I decided to stay aboard the ship, sticking to my room while the others checked their luggage, checked for damages, or simply departed. From my understanding, only three people left, the married couple across the hall from my room, and the Na-Nar who I had seen Hyun helping the day I boarded. This left myself, Hyun the bounty hunter, Sipho, the traditionally dressed Egyptian from old Earth, and Jazz Kell the Pygmy as all of the passengers on the ship.

Around noon, there were several nasty growls from my stomach, so I headed to the mess hall for lunch. Not to my surprise, I found the others passengers there as well, eating and chatting amongst themselves. I quickly prepared a soup and salad, and before I could eat I was quickly drawn into the conversation when Sipho began to ask me questions about my profession. Most questions, especially those from Hyun, aimed toward whether I was an armed Federation soldier and eventually led to why I was aboard the ship, instead of on a Federation ship. I assured them that although I was Federation, I was a simple lawyer; my training with a weapon was only as much as soldiers from basic training. When I was asked why I was on board instead of on a Federation ship or at work on Alsonair, I explained that I was ordered to find a particular person by my superior, and thus had to search for this person on Velia one. I didn't mention Samus' name what so ever, as that might have drawn too much attention, or too many criticisms. I must admit, thinking now, I probably wouldn't find much of a lead out on Velia one.

During our conversation, Hyun seemed to ask a lot about myself and the Federation. It was clear he didn't like the Federation from his tone, though he seemed the most fascinated about what I did exactly then the others did. Perhaps he and the Federation had a history of sort, or maybe it was just him being a bounty hunter. There was no denying that bounty hunters were known to have a dislike of Federation.

Also, while we all talked, I picked up a little bit on why they were all on this ship, waiting for the captain to take us back out to orbit. Sipho explained that he was a preacher from Earth, spreading the gospel in his own sort of way by going from planet to planet on various ships, allowing him to grace others with his aid. I suppose he felt teaching others the word of god would help people deal with their problems. Perhaps there's some truth to that… Jazz, from my understanding, was a run away from the medical academy on Altar three. She said that she wanted to find out what the galaxy was really like, instead of what she saw on satellite feeds and what she heard from word of mouth. And Hyun was a bounty hunter of course. He seemed rather picky though, as he claims he hasn't seen a worth while bounty in over a month, and was just waiting for the right one.

After the event in the mess hall, Jazz and I wandered back to our quarters, while Sipho and Hyun walked toward the stern. While Jazz and I talked, I could vaguely hear the sound of Siphos preaching, his words of god and his sacrifices for men. Hyun may have a liking to that sort of talk, but I tried to put it out of my mind as soon as possible. Once by our rooms, Jazz and I politely excused ourselves and headed back into our rooms.

My mind went searching for something to do. A genius idea came to my, and I quickly searched for my personal data pad, which inside my luggage bag. With data pad in hand, I checked with my department back on Alsonair using a video feed, so as I could see the others and talk at the same time. I hoped there was something I could do from here, perhaps provide some advice to one of my colleagues on a case. This wasn't the case. Work was slow as of late, and there wasn't any need for me. Catherine, an affectionate co-worker of mine told me to be careful while out here before I finished my call. This would leave me alone with my books, which I had neglected so far, leaving them simply lying on top of the table in the middle of the room.

Around nine, Dandridge entered my room. He wore tan pants with a blue shirt and a dark green duffle jacket. At the time, I was laying on my bed reading from one of my books, a translation of one of the most famous Guagian books to date, Silent bluff.

"How are you doing, Lieutenant?" Dandridge said upon entering.

"I'm alright, captain," I said, lowering the book onto my chest so as I could see him proper. "You?"

"I'm fine."

"Good," I said. "Was there something you wanted to ask me, captain?"

"You see, it's nine, three hours shy of midnight. Now, from my understanding, you wanted to head to Velia, not this back water planet."

"I wouldn't say back water, but your right. I am heading to Velia one."

"So then, you wouldn't mind if I had the ship leave port early, would you?"

"The earlier we get there, the better, captain."

"Good. You're the last one then. Well, we'll be leaving shortly, lieutenant."

"Alright. Just warn me before we go to warp, captain. Don't need to be hitting my head against the wall again."

"Will do."

With the exchange of words over and done with, Dandridge walked out of my room, leaving me with only the pages of words on my chest. I lifted the novel and dove back into the dream-like state that the captain had pulled me from. This dream, however, did not last long, as the ship did not leave. Only a blaring message over the speakers came to my ears, and I didn't like the message.

"_This is Captain Dandridge speaking. Will Lieutenant Spencer please report to the bridge? I repeat, will Lieutenant Spencer please report to the bridge thank you."_

I emerged from my room, only to have the scornful eyes of Hyun upon. My eyes caught a glimpse of Hannah hurrying own the flight of steps that I had descended on the day I boarded the ship. She quickly came to me and took a hold of m wrist, pulling me along like some lost dog. Sipho and Jazz both peered their heads out the door to see what was happening outside.

"Whoa, what's going on?" I said, following Hannah.

"The Feds wanna do a search of the ship."

"Feds?" I said, a little baffled. "You mean the Federation?"

"Exactly."

"What's the problem then? We should be alright."

"You're kidding right? I've gotta explain this to you?"

"Sorry, I don't fly much."

"Ugh… Whenever the Federation does a ship search, they tend to arrest someone."

"But we haven't done anything wrong, have we?"

"Look, just talk to the captain, he'll explain more. Now come on."

Hannah and I arrived at the bridge, where Dandridge immediately walked up to me and began talking to me once again.

"Lieutenant, I need you're help."

"My help?"

"Do you remember my comment about a Federation Cruiser this morning?"

"You said not to do anything irrational, like getting arrested."

"Right. Well, that cruiser is going to send a boarding crew down here to the port so that they can _inspect_ our cargo."

"Okay… I don't see a problem."

"You haven't been off Alsonair have you?"

"Only once, but I was on a Federation Cruiser."

"Great… Look. When I said inspect, I meant raid. They are going to come into my ship, arrest everyone on board, and then confiscate all the cargo on board. If there is anything wrong with the cargo or if there are any blemishes on our records, they will send us to the Federation prison on Alpha Quinn."

"I'm federation captain," I said "Do you really expect me to believe that? We wouldn't do that."

"It's the truth, Lieutenant," said Hannah. "My last crew disappeared out on Jel'Condo, thanks to one of those boarding crews."

"Uh… That… Can't be right. I mean-"

"Lieutenant, whether you like it or not, that's what's going to happen here, unless you call them off."

"I-"

"Captain, they're here!" said Hoban from his seat in the front, by the cockpit glass.

"Dammit. Lieutenant, I need you to talk to them."

"I… Fine. I'll pull a code eighteen alpha."

"A what?"

"It means I'll go to the Cruiser and talk to the Captain of the ship. Captain, you and I will have to greet them when they board."

"What? Why?"

"If the officer ordering an eighteen alpha is the captain of the ship, then he'll go by himself to speak with the captain. Once aboard the captain's vessel, one would negotiate the crimes one has on his ship and crew. However, should the officer not be the captain, as is the case here, then the officer shall go with his captain to the captain of the boarding crew, effectively the Captain of the Cruiser class Federation ship above us."

"Uh-huh… Hannah, you're in charge until I get back."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, Lieutenant, let's head to the cargo bay," said Dandridge. "That's where they'll be getting on."

Dandridge hurried to the stern, jogging down the hall. I followed him, and quickly checked for my Federation I.D. within my wallet. This would quickly identify me to the boarding crew and save us some head ache time. Good thing I never leave home without my wallet. We soon descended some stairs past t boarding door, and I soon found myself standing next to Dandridge while the cargo bay doors opened up, revealing the dusty, dirty vista of the back water planet that Dandridge had referred to. He was correct in calling this planet back water.

As the door drew closer to the floor, I could make out the six soldiers that stood there, waiting to come in. I quickly looked over their ranks, and found the leader to only be a Petty Officer first class. Naval forces.

"Good. I out rank him."

"That's nice. He's got a gun."

"Don't worry, this will work."

The squad moved in, rifles at the shoulders. The Petty Officer moved toward us, rifle at the ready, a lower ranking Seaman following him closely.

"Freeze!" shouted the Petty Officer, like a lowly marine. Actually, he sounded more like a dog, the barking idiot. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Lieutenant Alex Spencer of the Alsonair Naval forces, and I respectfully request an eighteen-Alpha."

"Eighteen-Alpha?" repeated the Petty Officer in his muffle marine voice. "I.D."

I held my I.D. in my hand already, so I simply waived it light in the air. The Seaman took it from me then held it up so he could read it. He looked back to the Petty Officer, and the two nodded to each other.

"Is this the captain, Lieutenant?"

"It is, Petty Officer."

"Good. Come with us."

The squad led Dandridge and I a short ways from the ship, all the way to the boarding ship which landed two docking bays down. It was a small vessel, though it provided more then enough room to stretch our legs. Once restrained in our seats, we were lifted to the Cruiser, where Dandridge and I were greeted by a female Lieutenant, who led us to the private quarters of the Captain of the ship.

"Sir," said the Lieutenant.

"That'll be all, Lieutenant," said the captain.

"Ye, sir," she said. She then turned about and began to left us, though not before winking at me. My eyebrows furrowed themselves in my curiosity, though only until she left my peripheral vision.

"Which of you is Lieutenant Spencer?" Said the Captain.

"I am, Captain," I said, taking a step forward. I did not, however, extend my hand for formalities; he was still at his desk, more then ten feet away, far too far for us to shake hands. He seemed to take not of this and rose from his seat. Afterwards, he walked over to me, extending his hand so as I could take it firmly.

"Captain Stalwart."

"Lieutenant Spencer. And this is Edward Dandridge, Captain of the Fame."

"Pleased to meet you," said the Stalwart, motioning to shake hands with Dandridge.

"Likewise," Dandridge said, shaking firmly.

"Please, take a seat you two."

And we did. I took the seat on the left just in front of Stalwart's desk, Dandridge took the right. Stalwart took his seat, then quickly picked up a data pad he had laying on his desk.

"So you've called for an eighteen alpha," said Stalwart, looking up fro his data pad. "Why?"

"I wanted to speak with you, captain," I said. "I believe there might be some sort of mistake with your attempt to have the Fame boarded."

"Even though the boarding was for a small inspection?"

"I came to the decision thanks to a small meeting between myself and several of the crewmates."

"Really? So did you have a part in this decision, Captain Dandridge?"

"I did," said Dandridge.

"And can you tell me why you all came to this decision?"

"I had a feeling you and your men might arrest my crew under false causes," responded Dandridge. I would have used the word pretenses, but that works.

"And why's that? We're just hard working Federation officers here on the G.F.N.V. Solstice."

"I've experienced a Federation inspection before sir. Let's just say that I'm lucky to be here, Captain."

"I see… I hope you understand you're circumstances, Lieutenant."

"And what would said circumstances be, Captain?" I said.

"Don't joke around, Lieutenant. These are serious crimes your people have committed."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Captain. Perhaps you could read these charges to me?"

"Lieutenant."

"Please, captain. Enlighten me."

Stalwart looked down at his data pad once again. He seemed to be reading some document, searching furiously for the crimes he alluded to earlier.

"Petty theft… Illegal salvage… Numerous counts of murder by various people on board… Breaking and entering… I could keep going if you wanted."

Murder. There's the heavy hitter. Definite killer to my case, but it was good thing I still had my ace. I looked over to Dandridge for a moment. He had his knuckles clenched. He was tense. These allegations must have been true. I leaned over and spoke quietly.

"Dandridge, is this-" He nodded before I could finish. "This isn't good…"

"As you can see, Lieutenant, the crew of this ship should be arrested. You don't have any objections, do you?"

"Actually… I do."

"I would like to remind you that you are on a Federation cruiser, Lieutenant. Don't think you can go back on the vow you made to the Federation and hope to defend these criminals."

"I have other reasons, Captain."

"Spencer," said Dandridge quietly, leaning over as I did. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do," I replied.

"Well, Lieutenant?" said Stalwart, who was becoming impatient with me.

"I'm on a classified mission, and I must head to Velia one immediately. The crew of the Fame can take me there, and thus are essential to my mission."

"That's a lie if I ever heard," said Stalwart, chuckling to himself. Fortunately I hadn't used my ace in the hole yet.

"Call Commander Germane on Alsonair. He'll elaborate."

"You do understand that Commander Germane has no jurisdiction here, Lieutenant."

"Of course. But seeing as I am on a classified mission, that would mean that Admiral Kyle Lars would be involved in this case."

"Somehow, I doubt that you would have a classified mission from the Admiral."

"Call him then, if you don't believe me."

"I am not going to bother the admiral and risk losing my rank."

"Then call Commander Germane and have him verify my story."

Stalwart squinted his eyes at me angrily for a moment, then took his data pad and stepped into a side room for a moment. This gave Dandridge and I some breathing room.

"Is that true?"

"Is what true?"

"The whole thing about the classified mission?"

"It is."

"And Admiral Lars?"

"Well my mission has to come from somewhere, and Commander Germane doesn't have the power to just dole them out at will."

"So… What are the chances that we'll get out of here okay?"

"Very good. He'll realize that he was in the wrong. Once he finds out I really am on this mission, he'll come and apologize to us. He wouldn't dare slow me down, or the admiral will strip him of his rank faster then I could report that there even was a problem."

"No way."

"The admiral has done it before."

There's my ace in the hole.

* * *

Bacon BaCON!

Well there we go. A small cliff hanger, but in the non dramatic sense, not like Stalone with the crazy wall climbing... or real novels that are so well written... unlike my stuff.

Now go yell at me.

YELL AT ME!!!!! RARR!


	5. Chapter 5

Higharolacokameimei! It's me, ZF

First - I checked out the Metroid forums and came upon the whole... Samus and Sex thing. Interesting Read. 2nd - Bad/good news.

A. Good News. Samus. That's right, friggn Samus. I figuredd that since I wasn't getting hits on this story there must have been one of two problems. 1st. - The story has had no Samus, and thus sucks. Or 2nd. - It's the wrong time of the year. Well, I can't verify number 2, so I'm going with numbah 1.

B. Bad News... I think. I'm switching back to the M rating. Mostly for the ( . )( . )s in this one, as well as for what I'm going too do in the future. See, adult content (non-explicit) and vulgar language are for M, not T... So Jam.

Admin - DONT BLAM/ANNIHILATE ME! I'm not doing Explicit this time around, I swearz! And if you do, warn me. I'm like to back up all m stuff, just in case. You know.

There. Read. Like the Samus. Love the Metroid.

* * *

(Meanwhile...)

I sat there in the water, my back to our ships, sitting against the smooth, wet earth. The natural water shimmered in the jungle light, the leaves above creating the grey shadows on the clear waves of blue, brown, and green. My eyes focused to river, which drained its water into this pond, only to run off further along its trail to an amazingly large blue lake. The river ran in between the trees, dirt, mountains and hills all the way here, only to fall off a cliff meters above myself and fall into this area, where I now bathed. Where we now bathed.

She stood there, underneath the shower of water from a rock formation which jutted out from the cliff wall, softening the landing of the water which fell upon her beautiful body. I stared as she washed herself, the water doing her body more then enough justice to her beauty. On several occasions, she would turn and wash other parts of her body, her back, her arms, her legs, and notice me staring, and she would smile, blush just a little, and maybe even dance a bit. I would smile back, but my eyes simply wouldn't leave… Alright I confess, the various sounds of the jungle would make me jump every so often, but only out of instinct.

This was soothing. It's been about two months since we got together, and to be honest, I can say she's the best thing to happen to me. Yeah, clichéd, I'm sure, but it's true. I mean look at me, I'm rather wealthy, I've got a gorgeous girlfriend, and we've been exploring smaller planets just to find places like these. It's great.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" she said to me, leaving the shower to swim along the surface of the water, moving her legs for propulsion.

"Saying yes would be an understatement," I replied, smiling.

She swam right up to me, placing a light kiss on her lips, resting her body against mine as she did. I wrapped my arms around her back, holding her I during our nights together.

"So what do you think?"

"I think about a lot of things. You're going have be a little more specific."

"About this place, stupid," she said jokingly.

"Stupid… I like that. It's a step up from old fogy."

"Come on, Michael. What do think?"

"I like it. Very relaxing."

I breathed deep, taking in the warm, humid air. Softly my finger went through her wet hair, stroking lightly while resting my right hand on her thigh, underneath the water. She wriggled a bit, shifting her weight, and her head. I felt her lips touch my neck, and I shifted just a little, as if trying to look at her, though she was out of my vision with her head on my shoulder.

"Hey," I said.

"What?"

"Nothing."

And we sat there, listening, watching. My mind slowed as I listened to the birds chirping away, the land creatures crawling about, the water churning around us, pounding lightly away at the earth it moved on and around. We were very still, myself holding her to me while she simply rested against my body. Peaceful, calm.

After about thirty minutes, we began to hoarse around again, and soon we walked out of the water in search of our clothing. She rose from the water first, and upon sight of our clothing, snatched up both of our piles, leaving me to hurry wander about in the nude until she handed me my clothing. We then wandered onto my ship, where Cassandra soon berated us on our behavior. I simply told her off, and then kissed Samus once more before heading upstairs to the main room.

It was growing late, about five o'clock. I knew that soon Samus and I would become hungry, so I went into the kitchen and began to prepare yet another meal for our tasting pleasure. Today felt like a beef day, so my head decided to make some red wine-braised beef shanks with mushrooms and basil-mashed potatoes. I also made a side of salad, in case the two of us still had room for more.

"Do you two have to bathe outside?" said Cassandra through the speakers.

"Nope. Why, is there a problem with us bathing?" I responded.

"At least tell me why?" she asked. "It certainly isn't cleaner bathing is river water."

"It isn't about being cleaner. You see, it's soothing to take a shower, but it's even better out there. Besides…"

"Besides what?" asked Cassandra.

"I like seeing Samus naked."

"Oh, is that it."

I immediately turned to the door, seeing Samus standing there, smiling,a light hint of red on her cheeks. A little shocked at her eavesdropping, I shrugged, smiled, and then kept gathering the materials I needed to cook.

"What, you're hot!" I proclaimed.

And she kicked my butt for that. Of course, she was smiling when she kicked me, but none the less. After the kick, I continued to gather the pots and pans, then the beef and lettuce and… Well, I really was getting ready to cook dinner.

I finished dinner within the hour, and before I was actually done, I set the table, then hurried back to prepare the plates. Soon, I walked back into the main room and set down several plates full of my delicate cooking, then went back and acquired the wine and glasses, for effect. Not like it really had to be special. It just felt right, having wine.

With dinner prepared, I quickly changed clothes. I understood I was a sexy beast, even at this age, but I really just didn't want to walk around with wet, sweaty clothes. I went with a pair of blue jeans and an un-tucked white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows. That's right, sleeves rolled up to the elbows. This meant that I'm awesome. Now all I had to do was find Samus so that she could bask in said awesomeness. That would prove trouble some.

I searched high and low, in the extra room, the weight room, the showers, and in the cargo bay. This got me zilch. She wasn't on board, and Cassandra testified to that statement. Thus, my search for Samus led me outside of the ship. And just a moment after I stepped out onto the grass, I saw Samus head out of her ship. Dressed in an olive green tank top and a beige skirt, I could feel her good looks almost forcing me to drool.

'Samus… Equals… Hot…' I thought.

"What?" Samus said, looking at me quizzically about my staring.

"Oh… Um…" I shook my head, trying to get a hold of myself. After a quick cough, I began talking in a serious tone, saying, "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?"

"Girl… You are fine!"

* * *

I half wanted to write "Shit girl, you is fine!" but I thought it was too black for Michael. 

Now... do something... Like writing a massive flame to me via review... hint hint. Wink Wink!... RARR!


	6. Chapter 6

Well, like I said before, my rating went from T to M. But I've gotta say, I love the readers. Activity went from REALLY low to a whole lot in a day. A friggin day! That's cool. Thanks guys and gals!

As for the "Confusing" bit with the last chapter, sorry. I interjected Samus in there, like I warned. I did, however, forget to add a "Meanwhile..." type of thing before the actual read in the original post, so I revamped that and added the Meanwhile. Thus, you'll see an in story comment at the top about that. No, I'm not changing POVs mid-chapter, just added that part for story reasons... I couldn't write a certain part, which I pretty much wrote out, so I added filler. Besides, Samus makes Metroid AWESOME!!! Thus making my story Awesome! Right... Right?

Anyway, enough explaining myself. Here the story be (DOWN BELOW).

* * *

(Back to the Lieutenant) 

I was glad to get out of port and begin to head out to Velia one. Yesterday was more then I had wanted, what with my chat with Captain Stalwart, and I still wasn't sure that I had done the right thing. I've already questioned the authority of my superiors in a way, and I was already having people's records changed to further my own goals. Was this how a member of the Federation acted? Was that how my superiors acted, changing rules and regulations to do what they wanted…? I'd like to believe that's not how it usually worked.

My dealings with Captain Stalwart led to my discovery of the numerous occupations of the crew in past years. Captains, engineers, pirates, salvagers, merchants, black market dealers, and assassins were among the list, leaving Hoban the cleanest the group. Hyun was also listed in with the crimes, his occasional contracts leading to the deaths of various people, innocent or otherwise. This was the cause of the boarding. And that very list was what I had expunged, using my influences with Commander Germane and Admiral Lars to continue my journey to Velia one.

The dismissal of these crimes also gave me some grief, something for me to mull over for quite some time after Dandridge and I arrived back at the ship. I'm Federation, and I'm a lawyer. I'm supposed to enforce the law, to make sure that criminals receive the proper punishment. I'm not used to just letting murderers go. To think, I've just let five convicts go with only a strange scolding. No fines, no prison, but freedom for the criminals… I wonder what my colleagues would say about this… I wonder what Elly would say… Maybe I shouldn't tell them what happened.

After we left port, I had Dandridge call a meeting for me, where I spoke to the crew and Hyun about their crimes. I wasn't looking for apologies or thanks, I simply told them of what I had Stalwart do to their records. They tried to explain themselves, but I refused to listen. I simply said I was not in the mood to talk of their circumstances; I only wanted them to know of what I had done. I wanted them to know that they were now… Free, I suppose. Sipho and Jazz overheard the meeting, but kept quite until after we had finished the meeting, which felt more like an argument during several parts, especially during exchanges between Hunter and myself. Jazz said that I was a good person, having Stalwart lift their charges. I said thanks, and then went to my room to get some rest.

This morning felt different. My head felt worn from my dreams of triumph and guilt, while my body felt drained of energy. After a shower and change, I headed to the mess hall, where I found everyone else having breakfast, talking amongst themselves about various things. It would seem my head didn't know how to feel today. I couldn't feel angry to the crew, despite what I knew about them. I made quick work of a light breakfast, then retreated back to my room, separating myself from the others, allowing myself room to think clearly. Silence fell quickly once I shut the door behind me, and my head found a strange pleasure once I began to read my books. It was actually rather peaceful.

The little, quiet world I had made while reading came to a halt when a knock came from my door. My watch read ten fifty three, an hour shy of noon. I hurled myself off of the bed and unlocked the door, finding Hunter and Sipho standing there before me patiently.

"Morning, Spencer," he said.

"Good Morning, Alex," said Sipho.

"Good morning, Hunter, Sipho," I replied. "Is there something you two need?"

"Yeah, actually. One of the crates busted open in the cargo bay, so we need as many people to do some lifting. You don't mind, do ya?"

"Alright, sure. I take it that's why you're here too, Sipho?"

"It is," he responded. "Now, we should hurry and help the others."

"Right," I said.

And so we went to the cargo bay. Sipho and I followed diligently behind Hunter, as he was the one who knew his way around this ship. When we arrived at the cargo bay ground floor, I saw Dandridge, Hannah, Hyun and Jazz all moving steel barrels back into one of the large crate. It looked as though the locks on the door weren't fastened properly, allowing the goods inside to topple out thanks to their weight. Sipho, Hunter and I soon added our strength to the mix, and while we worked, I tried not to make eye contact with them.

Moving these barrels about was a difficult task, seeing as each seemed to weigh about fifty kilograms, forcing the lot of us to work together in teams to move these barrels back into the crate. The task at hand seemed far too difficult for me, though I pushed on, eventually asking for help jsut a bit of help from the others, despite my feelings. Hyun and Hunter made this seem rather easy, though they had the bodies of warriors. I was scrawny, and it had been a long time since I had actually been to basic training. Perhaps I should start investing some time to working out when I get back to Alsonair.

Part way through, Hoban came to the cargo back and added to the hands. With our combined forces, we finished moving and lifting the barrels in just under and hour and a half. Once every barrel was back in the crate, we all formed an interesting gaggle and wandered back toward the nose of the ship, then turned off from the hallway we were so that we could head to the mess hall. Thus, lunch commenced, with Jazz and Sipho cooking on the oven together.

"You know, Sipho," started Hannah, "For a preacher, you're rather strong."

"I'm not always preaching, Hannah," he replied, just after placing down his robe onto the long, empty counter. "There's a lot of dead time in space."

"Well Spence here was a lot tougher then I thought," said Hunter.

"You really were trying out there, weren't you," said Dandridge.

"Oh, he was trying, alright," said Hoban. "Just look at those pits and those grease stains."

"Hey, you leave my shirt out of this," I said jokingly.

He was right about the sweat though. It's been a long time since I was actually able to bench ninety kilograms. Besides, button up shirts and slacks really weren't meant manual labor.

"At least he was there the whole time helping," said Jazz, turning around from the stove to shake a ladle at Hoban.

"Point taken," he said. "Sorry about that comment."

"It's alright," I said in return. "I can take some criticism."

"Well, you did good," Hyun said.

"Thanks," I said sincerely.

Thinking back to yesterday, I didn't remember him saying much. I don't even remember him joining Hannah and Hunter when they tried to justify themselves. Perhaps that comment was his sort of thanks… Maybe.

"So what are you two going to make?" asked Dandridge.

"It's a surprise," said Jazz joyfully, bouncing a little on her left leg.

"I don't like surprises," returned Dandridge with a smile.

"Me neither," stated Hunter. "Last thing we need is for a group of Space Pirates trying to raid us."

"Don't Jinx us, Hunter," said Hannah seriously.

"I'm just saying."

And that's how lunch went, the lot of us just joking around. We talked, joked, ate, and just had fun. It'd been a long time since I've been able to just mess around like this. Perhaps too long. Maybe this change of scenery would do me a lot of good. But should I be thinking like this, enjoying their company? Somehow, it felt good, talking with these... Criminals? It almost seemed hard to believe.

The afternoon passed quickly somehow. My time went from showering, to changing, to reading, and somehow I got caught up in a conversation between Sipho and Jazz about foreign planets. Jazz had been to various planets recently, checking out two major planets galaxies and now just trying to find a lovely planet to spend some vacation time on. I referenced my experiences on Alsonair, and ended up bringing up my birth rite as a descendant of the people of Jaska. Sipho, however, was chuck full of planetary knowledge. He'd been to dozens of galaxies and possibly hundreds of planets, spreading the word. His talk was rather interesting, though the countless references to psalms of the Bible almost made me want to leave the conversation. Jazz, however, seemed to enjoy learning from him, and even asked to read his bible later on.

Our discussion took us farther into the evening. Dinner was prepared by Hannah tonight, which everyone enjoyed. The everyone on board ate, and once we were all fed, Hyun and I were tasked to cleaning. I rolled the sleeves from my clean shirt, and together we washed and dried each plate, each knife, fork, and spoon, and each glass in a quiet, timely manner. I handled the washing portion of the task. Afterward, we all came to a decision. Cooking duties had not been set previously, but now that everyone was really acquainted, it seemed improper that Hannah had to do the cooking. We would have to take turns cooking. My first dinner duty would be in two days, shared with Jazz. Shame I wasn't much of a cook.

It was clear that this trip was going to be very interesting.

That night, just as I preparing for bed, a knock came from the door. I was dressed, so nudity wasn't a problem. I opened the door, and there stood Hannah, still dressed in the clothing she wore while we all had been putting the barrels back in their crate. I must say, I wasn't expecting a night time visit, and especially from a lady.

"Good evening, Hannah," I said politely.

"Good evening, Alex," she said. "Can we talk?"

"Uh, sure. You, uh, wanna come inside?"

"No, here's fine."

"So... What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? You mean... About having your records expunged?"

"Yes. It was very generous of you."

"Well, I kind of had to do it."

"I know. You're mission is important."

"Yeah... But..."

"But?"

"Well, today was rather fun, with everyone just messing around and all. I guess... I mean, after finding out from Captain Stalwart about all of that, I just kind of labled you all criminals. Criminals that I just... let go. You're all free now, but since I saw you all as criminals, I thought I had done something wrong. I spent a lot of time thinking about it yesterday... But I just can't hold it against you all. You all just seem to be good people."

"I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I've just been thinking is all."

"... Well, thank you, Alex. And good night," she said.

"You too," I said. "Good night."

* * *

I love Pandora. Music is good for me when I write. Sorry for the product placement, but it's just an awesome service. 


	7. Chapter 7

Unholy JEBATUDE, this one felt too long. Maybe it is too long, but it works itself out farely, as far as I see it. Action, drama, slight nippleslip.

As for the immense delay in updation, it's simple. I started working on it, then I started a new (first) job. Over night, Target. Kinda cuts into my personal life, but hey, it's not too hard. And I'm losing pant's sizes already.

So while I'm there, I'll be working on new chapters via paper. Already started on the next one. So yeah, there we go.

* * *

"Bleeding hell," I said. 

I could feel the last few pieces of dinner coming up. Quickly, I leaned over the sink, and there it came, with the distinct, disgusting taste lingering longer in my mouth then I wanted it to. Ugh…

"Alex, are you alright?"

I could hear Jazz's feet padding across the mess hall floor as she hurried over to me. I didn't look at her, I was still to busy waiting for lunch to come up as well.

"Eww," she said as she looked into the sink. "What… happened?"

"I had a nightmare," I managed, still feeling sick.

"A nightmare?" she said. I nodded. "… Are you done?"

I waited a moment before answering. My stomach stopped churning, and finally, after the last few intense minutes of hurling, I came to the conclusion that I was done. I raised my hand and turned on the faucet, draining away the filth from my stomach.

"Yeah," I managed. Carefully, I opened one of the several cabinets and drew out a small glass, which I soon filled up with water and drank. My throat ached for more, only resting after I had consumed three more glasses. "That's better."

"Good… So, this nightmare… You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," I said, returning to my seat at the table, this time with a full glass instead of empty handed.

"Well, you came here to barf after having another nightmare… instead of you're room?"

"No. I had a nightmare earlier, when I was in my room, so I came here for some water. I guess I fell asleep after sitting down here."

"Hmm… You sure you don't wanna talk about it?"

"I'm sure," I said. My voice cracked a little at the end there, so I drank my glass, bathing my throat in the cool beverage.

"Alright" she said. "Here, let me fill that up for you."

With my glass drained, Jazz took it from me and rose from her seat. Through the quiet air behind me, I could make out the faucet draining water into the cup, which soon came back to me when Jazz returned. I thanked her graciously.

"So Alex, what's your home-world like?"

"My home-world?" I said, stunned. Did she mean… How could she know?

"Yeah, your home-world. Alsonair."

"Oh," I said. I shook my head for my stupidity. "I thought you meant… Never mind."

"Huh? What do you mean never mind?"

"Well… I wasn't born on Alsonair."

"Really? Where then?"

"Jaska."

"Jaska… Where's that?"

"It's in the Hav'Mata galaxy, near the edge of known space. It's a real… country planet."

"Country? You mean it's uncivilized."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So… What's it like?"

"It's… Small. Empty…"

"You didn't like it there, did you?"

"I didn't mind it there. It wasn't a bad place. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"Nothing…"

"Come on. Say it."

"No, I-I'd rather not."

"Fine, alright… But if you had the chance, would you go back there, to Jaska?"

"No…" I've already made up my mind on that subject.

"No? Why not?"

"There's nothing there for me."

"Nothing there?"

"Look, I'd rather not talk about this anymore."

"Sorry. It's just that I didn't really get to see much of Alsonair, so I figure I'd ask you what it's like."

"Hmm…"

"… But to be honest, I'd like to go back to my home-world."

"Where's that?"

"Jerral Prime, Da'Kel galaxy."

"Jerral... Jerral… Oh. I see. You can't go back. You left with the Federation to further your knowledge, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm… sorry about what happened."

"It's alright. It's not your fault."

"I know…"

It was awkward, having the conversation come to an abrupt end. Thanks to the Federation, of course. Them and their double with the people of Jerral Prime. Even I, a lawyer for the Federation, could see the fault in the Federations plans. We soon left each other, leaving the mess hall for our respective rooms. I didn't know. I understood that she was a Pygmy, but there were numerous planets with Pygmies. But to be an exile from Jerral… I suppose I understood how she felt.

The morning past quickly, even though I couldn't get any sleep. I spent plenty of time reading, reaching the final pages of my last book about ten o'clock. After reading, I called work again, only to find that it was nine pm over on Alsonair. Catherine was the only person there, from what she told me, and that she was doing some of my work load while I was away. I thanked her and apologized for interrupting her, and after a small update of the happenings in the office, we concluding our discussion. I somehow found it funny that they were pulling pranks on each other while I was away.

After my call to Alsonair, I tried my hand at writing. I was a very good writer when it went to punctual reports, but writing fantasy novels and the like were things I hadn't tried. I mean… I didn't normally read novels, seeing as I didn't need to read how it was to live like a farmer. And so I pressed my fingers to the data pad, typing a few lines… And then I closed the document I had started to write in and put away the data pad. I must be stupid. I can't write a novel. I may be able to put in all the fancy words for a report, but I didn't k now the first thing about putting a plot together.

That's when I felt the filth creeping up on my skin. Somehow, I felt dirty, almost like I hadn't taken a shower in the last few days. It was… Eww. I hurried and locked the door, then started up the shower and dove in, without my clothes. It felt great to shower, to renew my body. After the barf fest earlier, my body was ever so pleased to shower. And so, after lathering my body with soap and my hair with shampoo, I rinsed, and then spent a good long while just soaking against the wall.

Somehow, afterwards, I ended up playing a game of Basket Ball with Hyun, Hunter, and Dandridge inside the cargo bay, while the rest of the crew and passengers watched from the sidelines. I only vaguely remember Hunter asking me to join the game, and thus he and I were on a team, with Hyun and Dandridge against us. And how we played. Although I wasn't as strong as the other three, I could still run rather fast. Hunter would either shoot or pass to me while I would move about and set him up for the next shot.

The game continued for quiet awhile, and when Hunter and I won, Hoban and Hannah both entered the court. Hannah was both strong and fast, but I stuck with her, trying to stop her from passing to Hoban. However, by then, I was tired. Lack of exercise I blamed it on. And so we lost, and my linens were soaked. I would have to go back to my room and change into fresh clothing.

"You ain't half bad, Spence," Hunter said, as we left the court. Hyun and Dandridge entered the court once more, and the four of them played. Jazz and Sipho came to us as we exited the court, handing us some unmarked water bottles, which we drank joyously. How good water tasted.

And then everything went to hell.

Red lights began to illuminate the room, spinning about themselves on the walls they were attached to, all the while blaring a painful siren. Hunter, Hannah, and Hoban all hurried to the front of the ship, while Dandridge pulled all of the passengers, including myself, toward the mess hall.

"What's going on, Dandridge?" said Hyun as we left the cargo bay.

"I don't know yet. Hopefully it isn't too bad."

And so we waited in the Mess hall. It wasn't long before we found out what was going on. The ship rocked under our feet, shaking us to the ground. Dandridge fell backwards, leaning against the wall, as did I, though I ended up catching Jazz as she fell. Sipho and Hyun both dove for seats at the table.

"What the hell is going on?!" Hyun said.

"_Captain, can you hear me?_" said Hoban over the speakers.

"What is it, Hoban?" said Dandridge.

"_We've got Space Pirates! Captain, I think they wanna board us._"

"Space Pirates?" said Jazz, frightened just by the name… And the shaking, of course.

"Alright, I'll be on the bridge in a second."

"_Alright Captain. I'll try to keep them off of us for as long as possible._"

And the speakers went silent. Dandridge ordered us back to our quarters, except for Hyun and myself. Jazz and Sipho hurried to their rooms, not waiting up.

"Well, we've got a big problem here," Dandridge said.

"Right," said Hyun.

"What do you want us to do," I said.

"There's a more then likely chance that they'll board, it's just a matter of when. Hyun, Spencer, I want you two to protect Jazz and Sipho inside the sleeping quarters."

"Okay. But where are we going to get weapons?" I said.

"I've got my own guns with me, Captain. I just need to get them from my room."

"Good, but as for you Spencer…"

"Yes?"

"There's a stash of blasters in the back of the sleeping quarters. Come with me, I'll show you."

And so we followed him. When we entered the hallway to the sleeping quarters, we saw a Space Pirate vessel whiz by the window, the exhausts blazing orange. We hurried down the hallway, turning at our exit, ending up just behind my room. Dandridge soon led us to a steel panel which stuck out just a bit from the rest of the wall. He touched the panel, and a small door opened up, revealing a number key pad. He typed in a number quickly, opening up the panel, revealing a decent sized weapons rack.

"Wow," I said, mystified by the showcase of weaponry.

"Pick whatever you want," Dandridge said. "Just make sure to hit the Pirates when you see them."

"Will do," I said.

And so Dandridge left, heading for the bridge. It wasn't long afterward that we were hit again, forcing me to the wall. Hyun hurried to his room to search for his weapons, while I took the liberty of taking a blaster off the wall as instructed. I took a heavy rifle, apparently similar to the standard issues I used back in basic training years ago. With rifle in hand, I clung to the wall behind me, keeping my shoulders by the corner of the hallway. And there I waited.

With a patter of boots, Dandridge and his crew hurried to the cargo bay, weapons at the ready. The ship continued to shake, the Pirates attacking the ship heavily. Eventually, the battle outside silenced, with only a screeching of torn steel coming from the cargo bay. And so Hyun and I waited, covering our respective entrances.

I've heard of Space Pirate attacks, of their speed and their destructive power. Some said they were invincible killers with a thirst for blood and a love for women. Other claimed they came like humans, taking what they wanted then leaving the survivors to die a slow death in space. I didn't know what to think. I couldn't be sure. Samuel Hornet, another one of my clients, told me about them in a sort of depth that I knew had come from experience. He said they came in drove, only stopping once they were all dead.

It was hard to imagine that he was right.

It wasn't long after the screeching that the Pirates came. They must have overwhelmed Dandridge and the others. Hyun and I held our ground, firing into the waves of Pirates that came at us. I was terrified, I'll admit it. It's been a long time since I've held a rifle, and I've never killed anything more then livestock. Yet we held our ground. My rifle held plenty of power, firing red beams of death into the enemy, slicing through their bodies much like a hot knife.

I couldn't tell how many I had taken down. Twenty, thirty? I wasn't sure. But despite how much I killed, they over took us. Hyun couldn't hold them on his end, despite his calm demeanor, and the aid of Sipho, who only fought because he claimed to fear for Jazz's safety. I didn't care why he picked up a weapon. Another gun is always better… Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.

Jazz soon came up to me, a blaster in hand. I stole a single glance at her, finding her standing behind me, holding the blaster like some frightened child. The fear in her eyes only made me fight harder. We barely even knew each other, and here I was with something to fight for. Myself. And her.

What did they want from us?

I told her to stay with me. She nodded. I continued the defense, and while I fired, I could even see her firing a few shots at them. At the time, I felt better that she was there. I felt like we had a chance, even if she missed. I had hope.

This hope didn't last long. I heard her scream. I turned about, and found a Pirate, standing in front of Jazz. With its freakish claws, it slapped the blaster from her hands, then slashed away her shirt, and finally pushed her to the side, against the wall. The bastard then went for me, but I shot it down before it had the chance. My attention focused to Jazz, now bare from the waist up. She seemed traumatized, her eyes wide, her arms limp. Her breasts moved, her breathing continued.

Remembered the pirates, I turned about once more and focused my energies to the hall. Not that it mattered. I only managed to fire a single shot off before being thrown away by the claws of another pirate.

I don't remember landing.

The scent of food faded to the massacre of village, of my friends, of my family… of Hiba. These memories did not stay for long, as my eyes flickered back to reality, showing the white light of an over head lamp.

"Alex, wake up," she whispered into my ear. My eyes opened slowly, the lights in the room blinding me at the moment. My head burned, aching with a strange pain in the back of my head. As my eyes focused, I found Jazz before me, shaking my shoulder to try and wake me.

"Ugh, my head," I said, raising my hand to rub the back of my head.

"Shoo, be quiet. There's one in the room."

"Huh?"

"Look."

Jazz raised her arm, pointing toward my dresser. I looked, and there it was, standing there, searching through my clothing. A Space Pirate, a beast, searching through my personal effects, tossing anything it seemed to deem worthless. The pirate made strange sounds, like whistles and whirs as it cleaned out my dresser, apparently agitated.

"What's it looking for?" I whispered.

"Do I look like I speak Space Pirate?" Jazz replied.

And then I noticed that Jazz was dressed. I remembered one of the Pirates tearing her shirt off, yet there she was, sitting, with a white button up on.

"That shirt-"

"Yours, now can we think of a way to deal with this thing before it tries to kill us."

"Right."

So my mind reeled for a solution. Realistically speaking, I wouldn't be able to take the beast down with my bear hands, I needed a weapon. A chair should do just fine. But I had to be careful. The pirate was armed. If it saw me moving around, it might shoot me with the blaster it has on its arm.

So I waited. I watched as it searched, checking through my clothes. Then it turned and began to search the desk in the room, thus facing away from us. Now was my chance. I rose, quietly, and with the quiet grace of a young kitten, I gripped the chair and raised it. I brought it above my head, and when I was close enough, I smashed his head with the steel end of the chair.

That didn't do the job. It turned around quickly, throwing its arm around and effectively knocking me over. I jumped back up to me feet though, and in the pirate's confusion, I tackled it to the wall. I quickly gripped the blaster attached to it's arm, then used my left hand to hold his arm away from me, keeping it from shooting me with it. His spare hand soon clawed at my shoulder, and with a firm grip, it pulled me off and tossed me to the floor, along with his blaster.

With me on the floor, it tried to dive on top of me, lunging toward me with its laser blade extended from its other arm. I raised my legs and kicked it back, and then with a quick frenzy, I put on the blaster on my left arm and fired. I rose from the ground. To my disbelief, I saw the beast writhing on the floor, still alive. I walked over, pointed toward its face, and with a click of the trigger, I put it down. Afterward, I took off the laser blade off of the thing attached it to my arm, giving myself a tool for distance and another for short range battle.

Just as I adjusted the blade to fit just right, another Pirate came in. Funny, it didn't stand a chance. I simply gutted it like a fish, slicing through the torso, and then pulling the blade out in an upward angle, leaving a thick slash through the skull. It's was rather bloody, but I just backed away as it fell down, leaving the artificial gravity to do the work for me.

With the room clear, I went back and checked on Jazz. She sat in the corner of the room, as far away from the fight as possible. I could see the fear and the worry in her eyes. I don't blame her for being afraid. She probably wasn't used to seeing blood. Neither was I, but I held up as best as I could. I had to.

"You okay?" I said, kneeling down beside her.

"… Yeah."

There was a light bruise on her cheek and neck, probably from an interrogation. From the looks of her, there wasn't anything else wrong with her, but I decided to check her arms anyway, checking for cuts.

"They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

I was thinking of before, when the Pirate ripped off her shirt… Disgusting. Good thing I killed that one already.

"No. Just this…" she said, referring to her cheek.

"You sure?" I asked. I decided to press the matter, just a little. "You're not hiding anything, are you?"

"No. Why?"

"It's just…" I guess they left her alone. That's good news. "Never mind. Do you know where the others are?"

"I know Hyun and Sipho are in the room next door."

"Are they alive?"

"Yeah… I don't think they killed the captain or the other either."

"I hope so."

My mind was set; I knew what I had to do. I stood up and started for the door, but before I left, I turned around and faced Jazz once more.

"Jazz."

"Yeah?"

"Lock the door behind me."

"Alright."

Jazz rose from floor, and then hurried over to the door. She did as I told her to, and I heard the door close just as I began to walk down the hall.

My search for Hyun and Sipho would be quick. Sure, they were in the next room, as Jazz said, but I made sure to check every room as well, so that I was ambushed by numerous Pirates before I could save anyone. Fortunately, the rooms were clear, so I hurried into the room next to mine. Hyun's room. There was only one Pirate there, which I made short work of, thanks to the laser blade.

I found Hyun and Sipho unconscious. Sipho didn't seem to have any wounds, though I couldn't say the same for Hyun. He must have put up one hell of a fight, as he had cuts all over his body, his blood dripping slowly onto the floor. I worried for him, but there wasn't much I could do. I wasn't a medic.

Quickly I went to the bridge. I slowed my pace just before entering and counted heads. Four Pirates total. A tall order. So I rushed in, firing first. I cut two down and blasted the third away. But the fourth wasn't willing to die so easily. We had a short duel, our blades clashing, sending off sparks of electricity in various directions. I managed to dodge a horizontal slash, allowing myself a victory by way of stab.

With the four dead, I went to the crew, who sat in the middle of the room, previously guarded by the Pirates. I went to work undoing the bindings the Pirates had put them all in, starting with Hunter, as he was the closest to me at the time.

"Thanks, Spence," He said immediately. "Didn't expect you to be the one saving our butts."

"Yeah, well someone's gotta do it," I said, Tossing his binding to the side. "You don't mind helping me with these bindings, do you?"

"Of course not."

"So," started Hannah as I began to unbind her, "I take it the sleeping quarters are clear?"

"For the passenger, yeah. Though, I can't say for you're rooms, seeing as I don't even know where you people sleep."

"That's what those holes in the floor are for, farther down the hall," said Hoban.

"Ahhh."

"Either way," spoke Dandridge, "we've still gotta clear the pirates from the cargo bay."

"Right you are, captain," I said.

"Oh, captain," started Hunter, "Weren't you gonna ask Spence here something?"

"Yes I was."

By now everyone was unbound and currently searching the corpses for new weapons. Except for Dandridge. He was standing before me, his arms at his sides.

"The Space Pirates had been interrogating us, Spencer. It's the only reason why any of us are still alive."

"That makes perfect sense. However, do you know what they want?"

"I think they want a data pad. They kept showing me one earlier while they interrogated me, but I wasn't sure what they wanted."

"That's it? A data pad?"

"They also showed me of an image of Samus Aran. Not sure why."

"Samus Aran?"

"Yeah."

Oh dear. They came here, they raided this ship, and they attacked the passengers and crew, all for a data pad. My data pad. The one that I was given and told to give to Samus herself… Why didn't I figure that out earlier? This is not good. It wasn't good earlier, but its kinda worse now that I know that I'm still in deep shit even if I make it out of this alive. Damn it, Dandridge and the others are going to hate me for this once I tell them why this happened.

"Dandridge, we've got to kill them immediately," I said.

"Of course we," agreed Dandridge. "But do you know anything about this?"

"Yes, but we can talk about this later," I said.

"Talk about what later?" interrupted Hoban, now armed.

"Spencer, why they're here," said Dandridge, looking sternly into my eyes.

"They're here for me," I said. "Now let's go kill them all before they kill us."

"What aren't you telling me, Spencer?"

"I'll explain right after we kill them, I promise."

"… Fine. But don't go dieing on me, ya hear."

With everyone armed, we hurried to the rear of the ship. Dandridge and the others went down to the cargo floor, as was the plan. I said I would hit them from above, from the rafters. Gun fire erupted immediately as the crew took cover behind the large cargo crates, as did the Pirates when they noticed what was going on.

I, however, entered undetected. While the crew split up into two teams and handled them on the immediate front, I jumped onto the crates from the rafters, and then hurried over to the breach point, the large cargo bay door. The Pirates had set up a barricade of sorts, shielding them as best as possible from the crew's fire. Not mine. I jumped down, and then ejected the laser blade into the back one of three Pirates. I rolled back onto my feet after the fall, then hurried and finished off the other two before they could figure out what had happened. Afterwards, the other four Pirates became easy work.

We left the Space Pirate ship to float in space, making sure to seal the hull before sending them a drift. Hoban went over to the ship for a moment and tweaked the engines in such a way that they would self destruct minutes after we had left, along with all the corpses that we dragged onto the ship. It was nice to know that not one of us died.

Though I still dreaded the talk me and the entire crew and passengers would have to have once everyone was conscious.

* * *

Shitakke mushrooms and ham the sandwhich.

Hoped you like the event. I'll try to get the next one done and up as soon as possible, but Wednesday is my next break day, and with the whole 8 hr overnight work, it'll be a pain to get stuff done on my PC. I'll try, but I can't give you guys a date for when the next one is. Sorryies.

Until next time,

REVIEWLS


	8. Chapter 8

Well, here's eight... Ill be keeping things short his time. Got decisions and stuff...

* * *

I can't say I was happy with the results, but this was going to happen, I suppose. After the attack, I told everyone about my mission. About how I was supposed to find Samus Aran, even though I hadn't a real clue as to her whereabouts. I explained to the best of my knowledge why the Space Pirates attacked, effectively putting everyone onboard in danger… No one was happy to know I was around afterward. I wasn't hated necessarily, but I certainly was avoided.

Once we landed on Velia one, I gathered my things, and then was escorted outside by Dandridge. Everyone else followed us, but they kept their distance, watching us as we walked. Kind of unnerving, really. I was lead out through the cargo bay door, which was to be repaired at the cost of the Federation; I had already arranged that through the Commander. I was surprised at the time that he simply bushed it off as if the debt was insignificant, minuscule. I knew finding Samus was high priority, but wow.

Rain poured onto the streets in sheets, nearly soaking me on my search for a hotel. I didn't make it far from the space port before I found a suitable place. The Mirage. Once inside, I paid for a room then hurried upstairs to the third floor, where I soon stepped through my door and tossed my luggage to the floor. A quick change later, I produced the data pad from one of my bags and stowed it away into my jacket, safely away from the hands of room cleaners.

After an hour of waiting, I headed downstairs and stepped outside. Under the awning of the building, I waited in the rain for a taxi to come to me. One soon came, and after entering, it whisked me away to my destination. The local bounty hunter guild. Upon arrival, I paid my fair, and then entered the building. I came out only an hour later, empty handed. Samus had only popped into the guild to tell them that she wouldn't be working for some time, perhaps indefinitely. Another taxi ride later, I found myself at the Federation office, looking for answers. It was a small building, which symbolized its ability to gather resources. The office was far more lax then any I had ever seen before, and by frustration alone, I left without my goal in sight.

As night drew closer, I went to a small restaurant nearby my hotel, where I grabbed a bite to eat. It'd been near an entire day since I'd been able to sleep slept, what with the attack on the Fame yesterday, the quick repair shortly afterward, and then the group meeting. Food only made me sleepier, but my stomach still grumbled, so I ate. Once done, I paid for my meal, and then walked home, the rain settling to a halt while I still sat. My feet carried me to my room, where my hands drew out the key and twisted at the door knob. I locked the door behind me, then changed slowly and fell asleep on my bed.

My lungs ached the next morning as I woke from another nightmare. The clothes I wore were drenched in cold sweat, my heart racing in face. Why was I having these dreams? Why wouldn't they leave me alone? I could only wonder.

Quickly, I showered and changed. I only slowed when I was about to head out the door. My eyes checked the clock on the night stand next to the bed, which read six twenty three.

"Early," I said to myself. I could feel the energy in me quickly dissipating, obviously a side effect from being scarred shitless in my sleep. "Why must I keep seeing her die? It's been over ten years."

It was cold out. Sixty Fahrenheit, at the most. The rain had stopped the day before, but the sidewalks were still moist from the humidity, caused by the nearby beach. It didn't matter though. While the sun slowly rose from the west, I walked. Normally my room allowed me to think clearer, but I wasn't on Alsonair, now was I?

It was something I hadn't done in years. I got these nightmare a lot when I was younger, back when I first joined the Federation. But I haven't had them since I went to basic, where I had to breath, drink, eat and sleep like a soldier. Afterwards, I had a quick tour of law school, and finally work. Everything I put myself into must have kept me from thinking for myself. But now I'm out here on Velia, with no plan, and plenty of time on my hands. Time…

Damn it, why? I just wanna sleep better. She… She's gone, there's no changing it. Jaska, my home, Hiba… Their just thoughts now. Memories… But I still know. I still remember. I… I've gotta think of something else.

I've got work to do, that's something… I've got to find Samus Aran. Where would she be…? Such a daunting task… Well, to start, she was here on Velia one. She's a bounty hunter; she travels the universe in search of said bounties. Thus, she'd have to have a ship… Not necessarily. Hyun didn't have a ship, but instead rode on The Fame… But maybe she has her own ship.

This seemed reasonable. After all, she did destroy the Space Pirate headquarters out on Zebes. She'd have some money, so she'd probably have invested in a ship. Thus, if she came here, she'd have to of docked. Which would mean one thing… To the space port.

I hoofed it back, and then turned into the space port. The long, immense row of space ships dazzled me for a moment, though I quickly returned to my mission and hurried for the manager's office. Quickly, I opened the door and thrust myself inside, finding the manager behind a loosely decorated desk.

"Can I help you?" she said. I took note of her large pupils. Though she looked human, I knew she was a Belkan. The eyes gave them a greater sight range, and combined with their natural strength and agility, it made them fierce warriors.

"Hello, I'm Lieutenant Alex Spencer. I'm going to have to make a request of you."

"So you're from that Federation ship in orbit, huh?"

"What? Federation ship? What're you talking about?"

"Then I guess you're not Federation. Get out."

"No, no. Really, I am," I said. Quickly, I pulled out my wallet and removed my Federation I.D. card. "Here's my I.D."

She took it from me, and with several quick glances, handed it back.

"Alright, so you're federation. But you're not from the Solstice up there? Why's that?"

"Well… A flight on a Federation ship to here would have taken eight months."

The Solstice? Why would Captain Stalwart be here? I hope he didn't find some reason to come and harass Dandridge and the others.

"Okay… So, what do you need?"

"I was hoping you could tell me if Samus Aran docked here."

"And why should I tell you if she did?"

"Please, I need to give her something. It's… very important."

"You know, hun, please isn't going to be enough."

"Even though there's a Federation ship above us right now?"

"You got me there. What do you wanna know?"

"Like I said, I need to know if she came here."

"Sure she did, about two months ago."

"And when did she leave?"

"About a week later. We had to do some minor repairs to her ship, all of being exterior work," she said. Afterwards, she began to rummage through her filing cabinet, just at the end of the desk. She pulled out a beige folder and handed it to me.

"Let's see… Several panels of tritanium with A-grade ether coating. Expensive."

"I know. Worst part is, she had to go to dock again on Bevdeen, just a day or so afterward."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just look at the next page. The port manager even called here to see if we still had any parts left."

"Requests for exterior panels…Thrusters… An engine?! What could have happened?"

"From what Qube told me, she was ambushed by a group of Space Pirate attack ships."

"Really… Any chance you know where she is now?"

"Actually, I do. She's on Jaska with her boyfriend."

"Jaska? You mean, in the Hav'Mata galaxy?"

"The very same. Seems she told Qube she'd be back eventually, apparently to pick up a few other parts that Qube couldn't get a hold of before she left."

"… And you know this because…"

"Bevdeen and Velia ain't that far, hun. Me and Qube keep in touch. A lot of times we share parts, since some things are hard to come by, like parts for Samus' ship."

"I see…"

This isn't good. Jaska, of all places… Gees, you might as well tell me their having tea on top of Hiba's corpse.

"You alright? You look kinda pale."

"Yeah… I just don't look forward to going to Jaska."

"I don't see why. It's a nice place. Air's great, water's perfect. People are friendly too. Plus, there usually aren't… too many… Aw dammit!"

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Look for yourself. The feds are gonna search a ship."

And there, through the glass window of the office, I could make out the boarding ship in the distance, flying down to the port. And it soon landed, right next to the Fame. I was in awe. This was twice they've pulled this shit. I thought I had Stalwart erase all of their records.

"Um, thanks for all the information. I better be going."

"Yeah, yeah… Hey, uh… Spencer?"

"Yes?"

"Can you tell your buddies over there to leave my customers alone? It's bad for business."

"I plan to."

* * *

A lot shorter then I planned, but this works... Well That's it for now. Later.

ZF


	9. Chapter 9

Sweet... I finished this one too. I've got things I'm gonna do with the story in the near future, but i an't properly fit them here, so... Yeah you'll see it later. So enjoy.

* * *

Oh, how there was a scolding. To think I would have to go back on the Federation once again and protect the people on board the ship.

This time however, it was different. It wasn't the crew Stalwart was after. No, he was after Jazz. I found out, after calling an eighteen alpha and being escorted to the captains quarters, that she was in fact a thief. I tried to argue that it all of the records had been expunged, but there was a special reason why they still chased her. She had stolen the Eye of Ka'Nel.

The Eye is an ancient Pygmy artifact, straight from the planet Jerral Prime. Jazz's home world. I've read up on the matter. The Federation took several hundred Pygmies from Jerral with the cause of intellectual enlightenment. Shortly after the Federation left planet side, the officers onboard discovered a strange source of power. A young girl had been wearing a special necklace, called the Eye of Ka'Nel, which had been giving off the immense power waves. The officers didn't waste any time _buying _it from the girl, and quickly went to work trying to figure out how it worked. Not that it helped. It would seem that it worked on a spiritual level, and only with select people of the Pygmy race.

Nonetheless, the Federation wanted it back. It was stolen from a science research lab on Delcoor, nearby Zen three, which is normally heavily guarded. How it was even stolen, I don't now. But Jazz was the thief. And seeing as she had a precious artifact that _belonged_ to the Federation, there wasn't a way for me to argue it. Legally, the Federation owned it, even though they had tricked a little girl into giving it up. Thus, the only way I could get Jazz out of this was to give back the Eye. Of course, I also had to convince Admiral Lars that she had vital information to my mission, namely the current whereabouts of Samus Aran.

Good thing I'm a lawyer.

Jazz was angry though. She didn't want to give it up. She wanted to return to Jerral Prime with it, and eventually hand it over to the young girl who it had been taken from. My journey was a massive detour that she only agreed with due to finances. She initially blamed everything on me, the detour, and the loss of the Eye. I replied by saying that I was the only reason that she wasn't arrested and sent to Alpha Quinn. She said she didn't care, but then I added the part about the prison not being unisex. The pigs there would probably rape her till they tired… If they ever did. She said she'd rather die then lose the Eye.

That's when I left. I was tired of dealing with the matter. Part of me thought I should have let her get arrested. I mean… I didn't need her. She wasn't necessary. I wouldn't have been yelled at so much for doing what I did, and I'd still be able to get to Jaska… Though if I hadn't, I would have had to buy my way onto another ship.

Before I went to bed, Sipho knocked on my door. He praised me for my decision, saying that I was a good man doing what I did. I asked him if he thought Jazz would forgive me. He said yes, claiming that it would just be a matter of time. Sipho then said good night then began to leave. I stopped him.

"Sipho, why didn't you leave when we got to Velia?" I asked him.

"I've… Found my calling, I suppose."

"I see… Well, good night."

It'd be another night before we left. Repairs carried on into the next day, but ended around noon. We soon left and hurried for Jaska, Hoban taking us into warp speed when he was ready. Dinner came and went, with everyone there, eating. Jazz stayed away from me, which I expected. Afterward, we all headed to our rooms, joking and laughing along the way. We said our good nights as we turned our corners, and everything went silent once I entered my room.

It wouldn't be such a good night. We docked on Jaska around midnight, but before we had, my nightmares had kicked in yet again. I hurried to the bathroom and barfed into the toilet. When I was done, I went to the mess hall once more for water. That's when I saw it. I saw Jaska.

It was the second time I had seen the planet, the first time being on a Federation Auxiliary ship, along with a handful of other passengers from Jaksa. The view was spectacular. Green, blue, a view hints of red… It's hard to describe. It's… reminiscent of the original earth. Most planets you find in space are usually a small handful of colors, and the ones with life often have a main color, like blue or red, depending on the environment. A technological planet, like Terra Firma is mostly grey and silver, due to the large number of buildings on the surface. But Jaska was still a country planet. Trees still cover the mountains like natures blanket.

After my gaze, I went to the mess hall and gathered my glass of water. I dreaded treading the Jaskan dirt again. Yet the captain soon took us out of orbit and docked. We landed in Amal, the first of two large cities with space ports. It was the one I recalled visiting several times, mostly on trading business. I remembered seeing the space farers coming and going from the port, the strange, mystical feeling in my gut. Now it was fear, not the joy I remembered.

It was early. About seven a.m. I was still tired, even after the nightmare, so I dared myself to try and fall asleep again. This dream, however, didn't last long. I was awoken suddenly during my sleep, and found Hannah before me.

"Wake up, Alex."

"Huh… Ugh… What's going on?"

"Jazz is missing."

"What?"

I sat upright, stretching and yawning. Slight itches came to my body, so I began to scratch my sides.

"Jazz, she's gone."

"Any idea where she went?"

"Nothing. All of her stuff is gone too."

"Really? Was she planning on leaving here?"

"No, she didn't change her plans on heading to Jerral."

"… Don't see why she wouldn't have said anything about it. She's an exile, she can't return unless she goes back with the Eye of Ka'Nel."

"Either way, we still need to find her."

"Hmm… Well, I'm gonna get ready. You should probably ask Hyun to help."

"Can't. He's gone too."

"Really? Since when?"

"He left when we landed. Said he had a job to do, so we shouldn't wait up for him."

"… Both he and Jazz are gone… Something's not right. Do you have his number?"

"Yeah."

"Give him a call. Ask him if he's seen Jazz."

"Alright."

Hannah soon left my room, leaving me to change and shower. I did both quickly, wasting no time to get ready. I hurried out of my door and found Hannah there, waiting.

"She's with him," she said.

"That's good. Where are they?"

"Some deserted town called Sheldon."

"Sheldon?!"

"What, is something wrong?"

"Oh man, oh man, oh man. Why there...? Let's go."

"Do you know where that is?"

"Yeah. I do."

Hannah and I left the ship quickly. The two of us met up with Hunter and Sipho at the cargo bay, and the four of us left the port. Dandridge was busy handling supply work with Hoban, so Hannah locked up the ship before we left. Once free of the ship, I paid for four hover bikes, and once ready we rode them eastward, down the long dusty road to the thick forest.

It was an hour before we got to Sheldon. I didn't worry about decisions, seeing as the road led directly to Sheldon. It was far though, winding about the trees madly. Hunter came up to me once while we rode, trying to speak to me, but I simply told him to follow me. I checked back with the others from time to time, looking behind me to see if they were still there.

Soon we arrived at Sheldon… Oh how I wanted to turn around. We parked by the old house before the barn. My eyes quickly turned to Jazz sitting on the stool on the porch, and Hyun who was looking around for a suitable place to dig in with his shovel.

"Hey there," Hyun said, noticing all of us pulling up to the village. "You're all here for Jazz, huh?"

Jazz looked away from me, still angry I suppose. Yet I didn't bother with her. I went to Hyun.

"What are you doing here, Hyun?"

"I'm doing my job, Alex. Just looking for something."

"What is it exactly you're looking for?"

"What do you care, Alex? What, is grave robbing so evil you have to stop me?"

"Honestly, yeah. Now what do you want from here? Money? Jewelry? You'll get neither."

"Actually, I am looking for jewelry. A particular necklace."

"A necklace?" said Hannah. "That's stupid."

"Not when I'm being a million creds for one necklace. Now just let me get to work."

"No, Hyun," I said, stepping forward. "Get out of here."

"And you're gonna stop me?"

He raised his shovel and dug it into the ground. Slowly, he began to raise the dirt beneath him, and I could feel myself snapping. Quickly, I ran over and pushed him, causing him to stumble backward until he fell over. I clutched the shovel and tossed it aside.

"Calm down, Alex!" said Hannah, walking over to me, Hunter behind me. Sipho went to Jazz, watching from the sidelines.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Alex?" said Hyun. "There's no way I'm turning down a million creds."

"I'm not letting you dig up these people, Hyun. Now get out of here."

He pulled out a blaster and aimed it at me. It was strange; I wasn't afraid, but rather annoyed. Perhaps I should be afraid.

"I'm not going to give this up, Alex."

"Put the gun away, Hyun," said Hunter.

"Don't do something you'll regret, Hyun," said Sipho.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for Samus, Alex?" said Hyun. "Why do you care what I do here?"

"Why do I care? I tell you why I care. I was born here."

"What? You, a little snot nosed Federation lawyer. Bull."

"You're kidding, right?" asked Hunter.

"It's the truth. I'm Jaskan."

I walked over to a small bush growing next to the dry well in the cent of town. I crouched down and began to rummage through the bush.

"My real name is Junayd… I lived there, in the old house by the barn, with my mother, father, and my sister."

"You're just making this shit up," said Hyun, still aiming at me.

"The building behind you belonged to the town elder, Wart. Next door would have been Manah and her three children. Her husband was ill for a long time and could barely walk. He died when I was seven. The building over there," I said pointing to the house adjacent to the old house, "belonged to Zahir, our resident lumberjack."

"If you know all these people, then where are they?"

"Do you see all of these bushes?"

"…"

"That's where they all died."

"…"

"We were attacked one day. Raiders came in and killed everyone. I… Ran away. I hid in the bushed while everyone else died. I… I couldn't do anything. Zahir raised his axe to the raiders and died, as did my father… My sister fell first. The came from the north, through the trees. She was… impaled by a spear… When they left, I removed the spear… But…"

"They're all dead, Alex," said Jazz.

I hadn't even noticed the tears falling down my cheeks. The memories, they felt so… Real. They hurt. It hurt, seeing it all again. I could see them all coming again, the evil horsemen, riding in with the swords in spears, striking like lightning. There was no reason to their madness, just murder and blackness.

"They stole her from me…"

"Stole who?" said Hunter.

"Her… My… My sister."

"Huh?" said Hunter.

"Whoa, whoa… Hold on. You… And you're sister?" said Hyun.

Nodded.

"I thought we had problems," Hunter said.

"Look, you, you're sister, this entire village, I don't care. All I want is that fucking necklace, now stay out of my way."

"Stop being a prick, Hyun," said Jazz.

"Don't test me girl! Just sit down and shut up."

"Put the gun down, pal," Hunter said.

"Shut up!"

"Nobody needs to get hurt," said Sipho. "Please Hyun, pu-"

And then his gun fired. At the mere sound, I dashed at him, anger in my head. It was instinct, I hadn't even thought of hitting him again. But I tackled him, pinning him to the wall behind him. Quickly, I crushed his wrist and forced him to release the blaster, then went to pound the ever loving crap out of him. I was… frenzied.

"Alex, stop," Hannah said. That didn't stop me. I just continued hitting, furthering the onslaught. "Stop it, Alex!" She pulled me off of him, and that's when everything came back into focus. I looked at Hyun, his blood dripping down his face. My knuckles began to sting, and with a glance, I notice the blood trickling away from several open cuts.

"Oh god, Sipho," said Jazz.

Hunter and Hannah both rushed over, checking the hurt preacher. There was a wound in his shoulder, not fatal… At least, not immediately.

"I… I think I'll be alright," he said.

"Hell no, you're not. We need to get you to a hospital."

"What's going on here?"

All of us looked to the road, and there they stood. Two humans, a tall, brown haired man, and a blonde female. The man had a noticeable grey streak beginning to grow in his hair on his left side. The female was… Wow.

"We need to get this man to a hospital," said Hannah.

"I see… Alright, we've got ships this way," said the man. "We can take him there."

* * *

Yeah, you finished. I'll post the next onoe eventually. Just wait. 

And happy fathers day. (06/17/07)

ZF


	10. Chapter 10

YAWN!!! Tired... Need... Pizza... In oven...

Well, I'm tired. Been up all night (I'm now an Imsomniac) writing, playing ODIN SPHERE (good game).

Here's ten. Finally added the call at the end. Was trying to fit it in for like the last three chapters but couldn't. So there it is. Now ENJOLLOROHANOI! BOOM SHAKALAKA!

* * *

I allowed the necklace to dangle in front of me, twisting and turning in the stale hospital air. The emerald shone brilliantly in the light, the silver around it vibrating magnificently, even after all these years.

"What's with the necklace?" asked the man, who revealed himself to be Michael Lindel.

"It's… My sisters. It was what Hyun was looking for."

"Hyun… You mean that bounty hunter that shot your friend, right?"

"That's him," said Hunter.

"So… The necklace, it's like a memento, right?"

"Yeah."

"You know, Alex," started Hannah, "It's alright if you did… you know."

"I know… I just didn't want to come back here… I knew it would hurt too much."

"Alex, it's okay," Jazz said.

"…"

"Still," started Hunter, "I wouldn't have thought that you would have… Well…"

"There's a lot I've locked away," I said. "Most of it I try to keep that way."

"It must feel pretty bad," Jazz said.

"I got used to it after a while, but this trip has really messed with my head."

"I can imagine," Hunter said. "You went and turned your back on the Federation just to protect us from being arrested and what not. That's some courage right there."

"And to think, after everything, I'd end up here, looking for Samus."

"Hold on," said Michael. "You're looking for Samus?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to give her this data pad."

With a quick search, I pulled the data pad out of my jacket. I don't remember stowing it there, but there it was, waiting. I handed it to Michael, and he quickly began to inspect it.

"Well I'll be damned. It's Federation alright."

"What do you mean?" asked Hannah.

"It's got some crazy encryption," Michael said. "It changes passwords every thirty seconds, so you'd have to have some key generator. I'll see if Cassandra can hack it."

"Cassandra?" I asked "Who's that?"

"Oh, she's the A.I. on my ship."

"_Hi,_" said a voice from Michael arm PDA. "_I'll start working on the data pad._"

"Thanks, Cassandra."

"So," started Jazz, "Cassandra's an A.I.? But she sounds like a real person."

"I made her myself. Took me a long time to get her right, as I'm no programming expert."

"_All done,_" said Cassandra.

"Well?" said Michael.

"_I can't hack it. The passwords too complex._"

"Thanks. We'll just have to wait for Samus to get here."

"Alright."

"So Alex," began Hannah, "What are you gonna do once Samus gets the data pad?"

"I guess I'll just have to go back Alsonair. And after that, it's back to being a lawyer again."

"They sent a lawyer to find Samus?" said Michael. "That's pretty sad."

"I guess so…"

There was a small pause afterwards. Our discussion halted, the air around still quiet, even for a hospital. It was unnerving. A single doctor passed the hallway during the silence, hurrying to another room for another patient. I looked to Sipho's door, the doctor still inside, checking his wounds.

"Alex."

"Yes, Jazz?"

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I've caused you a lot of trouble recently, and I'm sure you didn't need to stick your neck out for me. If you didn't help me, ten I'm sure that I probably be on some Federation ship going to prison. So… So if there's a way I can repay you, for everything, then just-"

"Don't worry about it," I said.

"But Alex, I-"

"I know, Jazz. I understand. You wanted to return the Eye of Ka'Nel to your home world. Sure, you caused me a little grief, but what's done is done. It doesn't matter now."

"Alex…"

"We've gotta apologize to, I guess," said Hunter.

"Hunter's right," Hannah added. "You had our records cleaned to keep us from getting arrested, and you saved us during that Space Pirate attack, and all we did was get angry with you."

"It's alright, really. I'm sure you all would have done the same, or better."

"Stop being so modest, Alex," Michael said. "If you took on a bunch of Space Pirates, then you deserve lots of credit."

Just then, the female Michael had been traveling with earlier arrived. Ogling women wasn't a past time of mine, but wow, she was gorgeous. I thought she was a super model, with the firm muscles and those… bouncy… boobies…

"I'm back," she said, taking a seat by Michael.

"Hi, Hun," Michael said, kissing her lightly. "Guys, this is Samus Aran. Samus, this is Jazz Kel-"

"Hi."

"Hunter Frye-"

"Hey there,"

"Hannah Washburne-"

"Hello,"

"And Alex Spencer."

"Pleasure mine," I said.

"Hi everyone," she said, raising her hand and waiving lightly.

"So you're Samus Aran," Hunter said. "Never thought I'd meet you in person."

"I bet I wasn't what you expected," she said, a small smile on her face.

"Nope. Thought you were a cyborg."

"Well, as you can see I'm human," she said. "Michael, what's that?"

"Oh this," said Michael, picking up the data pad. "It's from Alex. He, uh, came all the way out here to give it to you."

"Really?" she said.

"Yeah. All the way from Alsonair."

"Alsonair? That's pretty far. What's this about?"

"I don't really know. My Commander ordered me to give it to you."

"Ordered? You mean you're from the Federation?"

"I am."

"Strange. They could've have just called me. They have my number."

"I was told they couldn't get in contact with you."

"I don't buy that."

"Well, we're not getting very far here," Michael said. "Why don't you try and read the file, Samus."

"Right."

Samus took the data pad from Michael and quickly began tapping the screen, trying to open the document left on it. She soon raised her wrist and looked on her PDA, looking for something, perhaps the pass code Michael and I couldn't figure out. Soon enough, Samus began working on the data pad again, which led to her reading some sort of file.

"They… They've gotta be kidding."

"What is it Samus?" asked Michael.

"They want us to go to a planet called Tallon IV."

"Samus, you're going to be more specific when you say us. Who's us?"

"Me and the Lieutenant here."

"Wait, both of us?" I said, confused. "Why do I need to go?"

"The federation seems to think that there's a Space Pirate base there. They want me to clear out the area, and then have you go in and collect information."

"But… Why me? I'm a lawyer."

"I don't know. It just says to go to Tallon IV and bring you with me."

"Alright… Where is Tallon IV anyway?"

"Let's see… It's… It's in the same solar system as planet Zebes."

"Isn't that where you took care of the Space Pirates the first time?" Michael asked.

"Yeah."

"I don't know about you guys," started Hunter, "but this sounds fishy."

"First they send you to find Samus, and then they want you to go with her to this Tallon IV?" said Hannah. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you're going to do research."

"I know what you mean," I said. "It doesn't sound right."

"… I'll do it."

"Huh? Y-you sure?" said Michael. "You don't have to."

"… I do. I've got to kill the Space Pirates. All of them."

Anger. It was definitely in her voice. Almost as if she were willing to find some and tear their arms off. I could only assume she held some form of grudge against them.

At we sat and talked, a doctor came back out from Sipho's room. He came bearing bad news. Sipho passed, the blast doing too much internal damage for the doctors to mend. It was something Dandridge didn't want to hear.

We all had a quiet dinner onboard the Fame, Michael and Samus joining us. Jazz cooked tonight, Hoban pitching half way through to help cook. It was strange, not having Sipho there. Missing Hyun was understandable, but without Sipho, it was like part of the family was missing. Hyun would probably be sent to Alpha Quinn for murder. At least, I felt he deserved it.

Shortly after dinner, a small will was discovered in Sipho room. The instructions were simple. Donate all of his worldly belongings to charity, and then have his body sent to Earth to be buried. Dandridge agreed to handle the body, quickly arranging the matter with the morgue that Sipho's body was sent to.

After everything was settled, I headed to my room to begin packing. I'd be heading with Michael and Samus tonight to Tallon IV, so I didn't waist any time getting ready. It wasn't long before I finished, and soon I carried my luggage over to Michael's ship, heading up a small flight of stairs and heading to a guest room he had set aside by the living room.

I remembered to buy myself a few books before we left. My thoughts went to the boredom I suffered when I ran out of things to do, so I picked up a dozen books, all fantasy novels. I hadn't a care what the titles were or who wrote them, I simply pulled them off of the shelves.

Day soon passed to night, and before we left, I met up with Dandridge and the crew onboard the Fame. From what Dandridge said, they were going to stay in port for some time while they waited for the morgue to send Sipho's body, and to see if anyone wanted passage off world. While there, I paid my fair, a fledgling five hundred credits. I wired three thousand, to include fair for Sipho and his body.

I also learned that Jazz would be staying onboard the Fame permanently, as full time crew. Perhaps she'd fill in as chef, or medic. She'd have to become a little more fearless, but I knew she could do it.

"So you're finally leaving," Dandridge said, extending his hand.

I took it, shaking firmly. "Yeah, I've got work to do."

"Well it was good to know you. If you ever need a ride, give me a call."

"I'll be sure to do that."

A few steps over was Hunter, waiting patiently. He didn't miss a chance to catch me off guard and hug me. It was a little strange, having a man hug, but it was only for a second. I guess he really grew attached.

"Take care, Spence," he said.

"You too, Hunter. Take good care of everyone."

Much like Dandridge, Hannah extended her hand as well. We shook, nodded and smiled, a sort of mutual agreement.

"Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," I said.

Hoban was calm, shaking my hand like an official.

"Take care, Alex," he said.

"You too, Hoban."

Stepping over to Jazz was different however. I kind of expected her to be just a little angry with me, almost happy to see me go. Instead, she looked sad, almost teary eyed. As I approached her, she kind of… dove into me, hugging me tightly. I returned the gesture, more as a friend then any lover.

"You alright, Jazz?" I asked.

"Yeah… Be careful, okay?"

"I will."

She pulled back a little. And she kissed me…. I wasn't expecting that, and I blushed a bit. It was quick, probably because she was scarred.

"Good luck," she said.

I could see the tears forming under her eyes, beginning to drop down her cheeks. I could have kissed her back, build up her confidence… But that wouldn't be right. I didn't… feel for her that way. And even if I did, it would have only made her sadder. I was going to leave. She didn't need to have romance with me when there was a good chance I'd never see her again. I'm still Federation… Or was I?

"Thanks," I said, brushing away a tear. "Stay strong, alright?

"I will."

We pulled away. As I left, I waved back at them and said my final goodbye to them. Slowly, I walked back up the cargo bay door of Michael's ship, my cheeks still flushed. The door began to shut itself as I climbed the stairs up to the living room, and afterward I headed to the cockpit, where I found Samus standing next to Michael as he made the final preparations before lift off.

"You still blushing?" Michael asked, looking back as I entered the cockpit.

"What are you-"

"Don't hide it, Alex," Samus said. "See, you're still blushing."

"_She's a nice girl, you know_," added Cassandra, talking to me through the on board speakers.

"Hey, I don't need an A.I. telling me anything about women," I said.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, we'll be taking off soon, so you'll want to take a seat soon."

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Samus and I headed into the living room. We both took seats on the long leather sofa Michael had, and soon enough, Cassandra buckled us in and the ship lifted off. The ride was gentle… For a take off at least. Once out of orbit, artificial gravity kicked in, and the restraints Cassandra had on us lifted up allowing us to move about freely.

Then it donned on me. We were in space. Samus was on Michael's ship.

"Samus," I said, calling to her before she moved to the cockpit.

"Yes?"

"Don't you have a ship of your own?"

"It's following."

"It has auto pilot?"

"_Most ships have auto pilot, Alex_," Cassandra said. "_However, Samus let's me fly her ship remotely, so it's extra safe_."

"Oh… I see."

Samus headed into the cockpit, where she soon sat on his laptop. They were lovers alright, kissing and cuddling and… well, doing all that lovey dovey couple stuff. Something I haven't done in a long time. Strange, one would think Samus would go for someone… more her age.

I headed to my room, where I soon asked Cassandra to help me make a call. She dialed in the number I said, and soon enough the entire room became my communicator. I was calling Germane.

"_Hello_," said his secretary, as per the usual. "_Commander Germanes office, who is speaking_?"

"Lieutenant Alexander Spencer. I wish to speak to the Commander."

"_One moment._"

There was the sound of the line being disconnected, caused by the line change. Germane soon picked up, his voice easily recognizable to my ears.

"_It's good to hear from you Lieutenant. Have you found Samus?_"

"I have. She's seen the file, and from my understanding she's agreed. Now I could do with some explaining. What's going on?"

"_Have you read the file yourself?_"

"No, but Samus expressed it fairly easily to me. I'm to accompany her to Tallon IV so that I can research whatever the Space Pirates are doing there, correct?"

"_Indeed. Seeing as you know you're orders, I don't see a problem._"

"Oh but there is. Why didn't you tell me about this in the first place?"

"_Would you have signed onto the mission if I told that you'd have to deal with Space Pirates?_"

"Of course not."

"_Then there you have it. I expect to hear-_"

"Hold on!"

I was stunned to find both Samus and Michael standing in the door way. They soon entered the room, making it easier for the microphones to record our speech.

"We heard everything," Michael whispered to me. "Compliments to Cassandra."

"_Who's there?_"

"This would be Samus Aran," Samus replied.

"And Michael Lindel as well," Michael added.

"_Mr. Lindel? What are you doing there?_"

"You don't need to worry about that, Commander," he said. "Now go ahead and explain everything. It'll make negotiations much easier."

"_Negotiations? What are you-_"

"We're way away from Tallon IV, Commander," Samus said. "We don't have to accept this mission."

"_Fine then… What do you want to know?_"

"First off," started Samus, "What exactly are you looking for on Tallon IV?"

"_Nothing in particular. Intelligence suggests there is a Space Pirate Base on Tallon IV, so High Command wants the threat eliminated before it can pose any significant danger._"

"Is that the truth, Commander?" Samus said.

"_That's all Admiral Lars has told me on the matter. Do you have any other questions that you would like me to answer?_"

"I've got one," I said.

"_Yes Lieutenant?_"

"Why does High Command want me to go with Samus?"

"_While it will be dangerous on Tallon IV with all of the Space Pirates, With Samus Aran with you, you should be well defended, and thus capable of finding out whatever it is that the Space Pirates want there. High Command doubts that the Space Pirates would simply build a base for no reason, there's probably something there of great interest_."

"And why is it that you're sending me, exactly? Would an armed research team be better suited for the operation?"

"_I haven't failed to mention the Space Pirates, have I? Surely, even if we sent a research team with a battalion of armed escorts, they would undoubted fall to the Space Pirates. They're very cunning._"

"So I'm only an armed escort?" asked Samus.

"_Well… Yes._"

"We could make it easier on everyone if I did the research portion of the mission," Samus said.

"_And how do you propose to do that?_"

"The visor of my Varia Suit is capable of scanning and translation any and all Space Pirate texts. It would be easy work."

"_And you'd be willing to do such a task, even though I can give you the aid of the Lieutenant?_"

"Alex probably doesn't have the skill to take on dozens of Space Pirates on his own, nor the appropriate armor. He would most likely become a hindrance. No offence."

"None taken," I said.

"_If that's how you want to do it, then so be it. Lieutenant, you are hereby ordered to return to Alsonair immediately._"

"Yes, sir."

"_Now, will that be all?_"

Samus looked at me questioningly. I simply shook my head.

"That's all," Samus said.

"_Well then good day._"

Cassandra hung up, and then Samus and Michael left. My plans for the future now were pretty simple. Head back to Alsonair, and get back to work… Now I dreaded work.

I sat down on my bed for a bit. Silence came down on my ears, but my mind was pounding out ideas by the second. I was tired of the Federation. The lies I've been fed thus far, my little betrayals, and the repulsiveness of both Commander Germane and Captain Stalwart. It was enough to seriously get me thinking. The Federation, for what it was, happened to be one of the best things to of happened to me. Yet for what it is, I was tired of it. To think, the people in charges simply gave orders and bent rule, just to do what they felt _needed_ to be done. For all I knew, this base was just some ploy, a ruse, a farce… I couldn't trust them anymore. I just couldn't.

I thought of Elly. She quit, saying similar things. I guess she was right… I wonder what she would say? I wonder how she would react if I told her I wanted to leave the Federation.

"Cassandra?"

"_Yes, Alex?_"

"Can you call Elly Ha'Rel for me? Same planet."

"_Alright._"

"Also, can you make sure this call is private? I don't want Samus and Michael coming in to talk with me."

"_You sure?_"

"Positive."

"_Alright. Dialing Elly Ha'Rel now._"

And soon enough, the communicator came back to my ear. But she didn't pick up. She must have been at work. So I left a message.

"_Hi, this is Elly. I'm probably at work right now, so please just leave a message after the beep._"

"Hi Elly. It's Alex… It's been a while since we've talked, hasn't it…? Well, I wanted to ask you something… But I guess you're not home so… When I get back to Alsonair, I'll come over and talk with you about it. I… I hope you don't mind."

I wonder what she would say.

* * *

R&R. Hope you enjoyed.

ZF.


	11. Chapter 11

HEY, another chapter! Already? Wow, that was quick.

It was. I spent all of today (5pm-8:15pm) working on it... Wait... No... 3 hrs?! Wow that was quick... Too quick... Maybe it won't be as good as the other ones, seeing as I didn't put in as much time writing it... We'll see.

Enjoy.

* * *

Two days already. Four more to go before we get to Alsonair. Four more day until I return… Home? Is it really my home?

I've been spending most of my time in my room reading. My eyes sped past one of my novels already, a rather large book set to the theme of elves warring against humans, and a dieing romance between a human and a half-elf. Today, I got the story of anthropomorphic animals fighting other anthropomorphic animals. Makes any sense? No. Interesting read… I'm still trying to find out.

Michael has been cooking for all of us, though I find it hard to eat in their… romantic atmosphere. I don't necessarily mind that they love each other, despite ages, but I don't need to be embarrassed by all of their love talk while I'm there. It's… well I don't like it so much…. I guess I'm just jealous.

My mind wandered to Jazz several times. That kiss… It was nice. Perhaps I should have stayed with them. Then I'd have something to go to every night. Someone to talk to… Who am I kidding? I'm just some pansy lawyer; I don't have it in me to woe a women. I've never been a good woe-er… Though Elly and I… Maybe I could try and woe her when I get back.

After tonights dinner, I decided to head into Michael's gym room, just as he often did, working out. I did some bench presses, some crunches, and plenty of basic exercise. And hour later, I'd worked up quite the sweat. I went to my room, showered, changed, and then prepared for a good nights rest.

Preparing be damned, that not the order of things tonight. No, I was interrupted with the hungry moans of two lovers, waiting for their release. Dear lord, why did I need to hear them having sex on the speakers?!

"_Aaahh, YES! Harder, Harder!_"

"What the hell?! Cassandra what's going on?"

"_Well,_" started Cassandra, the two love makers still moaning in the back ground, "_Michael and Samus are having sex._"

"_Oh, Samus!_"

"I think I noticed that, Cassandra. But why do I need to hear this?"

"_Ooh, god, give it to me!_"

"_Sorry, but Samus hit the intercom while they were fondling. I can't shut them up for you._"

"Then tell them to-"

"_YES, MICHAEL! OH GOD, YES!_"

"To turn it off."

"_Can't, they've learned to ignore me._"

"_Yeah Samus, you're so tight._"

"Oh god…"

I hurried over to their door. I didn't need to hear this. Quickly, I reached out to knock on the door.

"If you're gonna do it, at least turn off… The… Oh dear lord."

The door zipped away when I went to knock, and I saw them. Naked. Fucking. I turned around faster then a groundhog seeing his own shadow, going back to my room. Screams ensued.

"Oh my god!" shouted Samus.

"Shit!" shouted Michael. I'm sure they were working hard to regain there clothing.

"You… You pervert!" said Samus I looked back and saw her poking her head out through the door.

"No, I'm not."

"Then what was that about, looking on us while we-"

"You guys left the intercom on."

"What?" said Samus, confused.

"Hold on," said Michael, who now stepped into the hall with his pants on. "We left the intercom on?"

"I heard it all in my room."

"Oooh… That explains a lot."

The two suddenly went a very deep red. Let me just leave this experience at that. We all went back to our rooms, and I didn't hear another peep out of them.

My dreams were pleasant tonight, filled with women, none of which were Hiba. Jazz and Elly stuck out the most, but somehow a conflict of interests lead to a threesome. Talk about a good dream.

I woke first, and soon began to make breakfast. Cassandra protested, stating that Michael preferred to cook. Yet I still made breakfast, and soon enough I served Samus, then Michael, and finally myself. They thanked me for breakfast, with Michael saying that it was better then most of his breakfast dishes.

And soon things got bad real fast. Cassandra jerked the ship. I looked forward and saw the chemical trail of a missile exhaust dusting over the cockpit window.

"_We're being attacked,_" said Cassandra. "_Space Pirates, six o'clock._"

"Cassandra, prepare to engage them," Michael said.

"Michael, I need to get to my ship," Samus said.

"Right. Cassandra, you know what to do."

"_Roger._"

Samus hurried for the cargo bay while Michael went to his room. Michael soon returned with a dark jean jacket, thick with padding and magazines, as well as two pistols at his hips.

"_Samus now boarding her ship,_" Cassandra said.

"Thanks for the update, Cassandra. Where are the Space Pirates?"

"_Still at our six, five hundred kilometers._"

Michael headed for the cockpit and sat in the pilot seat.

"Cassandra, is Samus safely on her ship?"

"_Yes she is._"

"Good. Give me the manual controls."

"_I don't know, you've got a passenger_."

"Just give 'em to me."

"_Alright, fine._"

I headed for the cockpit, still a bit confused. Space Pirates? Why here?

The ship suddenly jerked, forcing me to bang my shoulder against the wall. I hung on for dear life as Michael flew the ship directly to the Space Pirates.

"You might wanna take a seat," Michael said. Good advice.

"_Samus is hailing us._"

"Patch her through," Michael said.

"_Michael, can you hear me?_" Samus said.

"Loud and clear, Samus. Something wrong?"

"_No. Just wanted to tell you not to do something stupid._"

"I won't. I swear."

"_Well, good luck._"

"You too, Hun."

I wasn't sure happened next. I'm not a fighter pilot. I could only feel the jerking of the ship, the sudden moves, as if I were some rag doll of some three year old boy. All I knew was that Michael kept saying numbers, starting from one and climbing to four.

After four, things got worse. There was a power failure, and constant swearing from Michael.

"FUCK!"

"What's going on?"

"We've been EMP'd. They're gonna board us."

"That's not good. I'm going to need a weapon if we're going to fight them."

"What, you don't have any? How'd you kill of those Space Pirates?"

"Uh… No. I just killed them all with their own weapons last time."

"Ugh… Alright, I'll kill one, and you just take its things and start helping me."

"Cool."

And so we waited. Samus continued to fly around taking shots at other flyers. But soon we were boarded, the Pirates cutting a whole into the hull. They soon came up the stairs to the living room where Michael started taking shots at them. One quickly fell at the final step, which I dragged up while Michael covered me.

Equipped with a blaster and laser blade, I was ready to take them on. Good thing I put the laser blade on my right arm, I was gonna get a work out today. I was long before they began to overwhelm us. Michael was at a disadvantage with his two pistols, but he seemed to have learned some form of martial arts, and he was kicking the crap out of the Pirates. I handled fairly well, stabbing quickly while shooting away at them before they could touch me.

I was cut once, a slash across my cheek. Michael dodged an attack and warned me that one was getting by. I looked back to get ready and attack, and the blade came clear across my face. My reflexes kept me from having my face cut clean off, and with a quick move, I shot him in the stomach while still fighting the Pirate was dealing with before.

The emergency lights soon faded and the main power came back on. Cassandra shut the door to the cargo bay stairs, and then violent jerked the ship, perhaps detaching the boarding vessel. That's when things went from bad to worse. Not in terms of enemies, as I handled the last two of the Pirates. No, it was bad because one of the Pirates stabbed Michael, the blade coming out through his back, severing his spine. Internal bleeding would be devastating, the lungs punctured in a single moment. I didn't hesitate going into a rage and utterly annihilating the Pirate.

When it was over, I kneeled down by him, trying to ease his pain.

"Michael, talk to me."

"Alex… You're… Alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, le's get you into the medical room before you go on me."

"_No can do. The medical facility is in the cargo bay, but the hull has been breeched. If you open the door, you're both dead_."

"But we have to do something," I said.

"_Even if we could get him to the medical facilities, it wouldn't do him any good. His wounds are too severe, and he has too much internal bleeding for me to handle._"

"Then… He's gonna die."

"I'm right here, Alex."

"Sorry. I should have gotten him before he got you. This could have been prevented… I-"

"Stop worrying about it," He said slowly. "Listen… You take my ship, alright."

"What? But I can't fly the ship."

"You… Don't have to. Cassandra… Can fly herself."

"_That I can do… Michael, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything."_

"It's alright… Just… Tell Samus… I love her…"

That's when he passed. It was quiet. Cassandra fell silent. Only the quiet humming of the engine behind me made a sound. It seemed a small eternity before I even moved. I didn't cry, I didn't frown… It felt so… Surreal. I just couldn't feel. A man died right before me…

"_Samus is boarding,_" Cassandra said.

"Alright… Is it safe to open the cargo bay door yet?"

"_It's clear._"

"Good."

I opened the door and walked downstairs. And there she stood, on the ground floor, dressed in the bulky yellow and red suit of hers, looking at the hole that the Pirate drilled into the hull. It was nasty, but it would have to be repaired… And the corpses of all the Pirates would have to be dumped. I'd probably just throw them into the cargo bay and have Cassandra open the door while we remained upstairs.

Her helmet was off, her hair loose and vibrant. She seemed overjoyed. How was I supposed to break the news to her?

"That was close," Samus said, smiling. This would only be harder. "Those bastards got what was coming to them… Can you tell me where Michael is, I wanna kiss him."

She must have really enjoyed killing them all, or the battle, or the simple ecstasy of flying in Space… Or something… I hate this.

"He's… Upstairs."

"What's wrong? You sound sad."

"Samus… I've got some bad news."

"Bad news? What do you mean?"

"Samus… Michaels-"

"Oh no. Don't tell me he got hurt."

"No… Samus, he's gone."

"Gone?"

I nodded. She looked at me, her eyes full of disbelief. She walked past me, up the stairs into the living room. And she stopped. I followed her up, and found her kneeling beside his bloody body, weeping… I couldn't stand watching. I went downstairs and started work on repairs. There was some spare steel on board, and soon enough I was welding the steel to the hole, trying to do the best job I could to put the ship back to normal… Not that I could. Not without Michael being alive to greet Samus, to hug her, hold her… Make love to her…

This just wasn't right… I would have Germane's ears before this was over.

* * *

Yup. Sucks to be Michael... I really didn't want to kill him off. I liked him, Personally. You know how it its, you don't wanna kill you're own OC at first. But it works... I guess. Still feel bad about it.

Well, there you go, chapter 11. I'll try and get 12 up as soon as possible.

ZF


	12. Chapter 12

_... And would you like an Orugachino with that?_

Hi ladies, gents, and non-persons, It's ZF here. About time!!!

Finally got around to finishing this chapter. I'll have the next chapter up within a day or so, followed up by the finale. Yes, I'm done with both... sort of. I know what I wanna write for the finale atleast. Alterations for the next chapter will soon commence, but none the less, the story is almost over.

And sorry I didn't do this sooner. I just couldn't write. And during my spare time, now that I've pretty much finished this, I don't know where to write next. Got a lot of blank pages that want to be written on, you know.

So, without futher a doodoo...

POOPIE! (JK.)

Enjoy-izle

* * *

Samus has been taking the news of Michael's death pretty bad. She's kept herself in his room, crying to herself. I've heard her weeping through his door, while I toiled away at the dishes, or as I sat in the cockpit thinking of what I should do. I imagined the tears falling from her cheeks onto the sheets of the bed, the pure sadness that she must have felt.

After the attack, Cassandra registered me as the owner of the ship. She also went to the trouble of dividing all of Michael's assets splitting them up equally between Samus and myself. Turns out Michael was practically made of money, with over five million credits coming my way. Not that it made me feel any better, but at least this… adventure became far more beneficial to me then I thought it would. Too bad it came with such a cost.

I thought of the body we brought down to Leering, where we touched down after the attack. Michael's… My ship under went minor repairs, with the hull requiring a proper repair after my shoddy welding I had to do immediately before eject the Pirate ship. While on Leering, I went and gathered food and various cooking ingredients for Samus and I to eat, all while under the guidance of Cassandra, who insisted that I take Michael's wrist PDA along so as to stay in touch. A wireless ear piece allowed me to listen and talk to Cassandra without anyone hearing her, which was good to know. Though I'm sure I looked like quite the idiot talking to myself.

Before we left the planet, I called Commander Germane and informed him of the attack and its toll. He said it didn't matter, and that all I had to do was return to Alsonair while Samus went to Tallon IV. I stressed the matter of Michael's death and the relationship he and Samus had, but he wouldn't listen. All he seemed to want were results, he didn't worry about repercussions. Frustrated, I cut the call short and hung up. I wouldn't listen to the Commander is he was going to be some heartless bastard.

Michael's burial was also handled before we left. Samus and Cassandra said that Michael wanted to be buried on a quiet planet, with far less technology then most federation planets. Something more natural. I suggested Jaska, as I knew the kind of place it was. I checked in with Catherine back on Alsonair and had her check what records she could about Jaska. It would seem, from what she told me, that after all of these years, it was still quiet, with only a handful of ships coming in by the month, most rare supply ships looking for anything of value. And so, with a teary eyed Samus, I had Michael sent to be placed in an oak casket, and then paid for a transport ship to deliver his body to Jaska for burial. I paid them handsomely, and had Cassandra take a copy of their ships registry, so that they wouldn't just dump him out in space.

Things became very quiet after we left. Space was near silent save for her weeping. For me, all I had to do was keep the ship clean, do some cooking, and finally read. Michael must have spent a lot of time cleaning, as the ship was near spotless, even with the mess the Pirates made when they boarded. The blood cleaned away easily after the attack, past when I welded the hull. Cooking took some time up, to my delight, but it wounded down too soon, leaving me with a few pots and pans to work on, a few minutes times. Clean up was, however, ever so tedious, mostly because Samus didn't seem to want to eat, leaving her food only partially eaten.

Once the day had gone by, I would go to my room. Exercise kept me from insanity, allowing me to wear myself out enough to actually need sleep. Yet when I wasn't tired or working out, I was reading, trying to pass the time. My eyes had wandered over to another book of warring factions in a fantastic world, involving orcs, elves, humans, dwarves, and a variety of other races. From my understanding, the story had something to do with an ancient earthling video game series called _Warcraft_, which was apparently immensely popular, so much so that it spawned several sequels, and even managed to be adapted into a movie and an animated series for television, as well as novel adaptations like the one I read.

And that's how the final four days past. Samus remained quiet until just before we arrived at the planet. I felt I needed to know what she planned, so I pressed the matter just after lunch. Surprising, it was the first meal in the last four days that she actually finished.

"Samus, I need to ask you something," I said

"Yes?" she said frailly, raising her eyes sadly to look at me.

"I… I wanted to know what you're going to do once we dock."

"…"

"I'll be docking, and afterward, I'm going to head to Commander Germane's office and give him a piece of my mind. But what about you? Are you just going to go to Tallon IV?"

"I… I don't know."

She rested her elbow, placing her cheek in her palm. I could clearly see the strain Michael's death has caused her. I could feel the pity ripping at my heart. I felt awful.

"I just don't know."

She tried to stay strong, holding back until she could get to her room. But I had to press the matter.

"Samus you don't have to do this. You don't need to go to Tallon IV."

"But I do!"

She slammed her hands onto the table, angry at my words.

"They've taken everything away from me! Everything… Michael, my family, my home… All I have left is my ship…"

"For revenge then? That's why you're going? To kill them all… I can't say I blame you. But after that? After you leave Tallon, after you kill them all, what then?"

"…"

"Samus, killing them won't bring Michael back."

"Don't you think I know that, Alex?! Michael deserves vengeance."

"Michael dead. Nothing changes that."

"I know."

"Not even vengeance. The only thing it changes is you."

"…"

"Don't let his death run your life, Samus."

"_We are entering the docking zone. Alex, can you come to the cockpit?_"

"Alright, Cassandra. I'll be there."

I headed to the cockpit at Cassandra request, thus taking part in the docking process. Somehow, I don't feel I got a real answer. Nothings changed. Samus is still sad. She's still going to Tallon IV. Germane won't care.

Cassandra handled most of the docking portion, including sending proper registry information to the port authority and acquiring docking instructions. I simply had to press a few buttons and take manual control of the ship for a moment while Cassandra took continued control of Samus' ship. It would seem Cassandra could only fly one ship into orbit at any given time, thus making it impossible for her to fly this ship and Samus' at the same time. Cassandra led me through orbital entrance through voice instructions and on-screen messaged.

After docking, Samus gathered her things from Michael's room, mostly personal effect and all of Michael's things which she felt were important. I noticed that one of the items she took was a photograph that Michael kept on his nightstand, portraying himself and another woman. In comparison to Michael, who seemed to be a standard Caucasian human, the female was more oriental, with dark hair and squinted eyes. Certainly not Samus. Though curious, I didn't ask about it.

I said goodbye, but she didn't respond. She went to her ship, dumping his belongings inside, where I couldn't see. She only came out again to speak with the port authority about her leaving, though I made it a point to tell her something that I had forgotten about.

"Samus," I said, calling out to me.

"Leave me alone, Alex," she said, turning around and starting for her ship.

"Before Michael went, he said he loved you… I thought you should know."

She looked at me for a moment. It was strange, like she was looking for a lie in my eyes. She didn't find it. Samus looked down to the ground and continued into her room… I should have told her earlier… Can't believe I forgot to tell her that.

* * *

There it be for the night.

Not sure how I got to that anger part... just kinda happened.

Well, gonna go work adding the final touches to the next chap.

--- ANNOUNCER LADY: "Attention Target guests, the time is now ten o'clock and our store is now closed. Please blah blah blah."

ME: blah blah blah Final purchases "NOW GET OUT!"


	13. Chapter 13

RETURN MY PRETTIES!!!

Wow... This took me forever. In between all of my work, the crazy antics with my MP3 Player, My Pops 50th birthday, and just a strange summer, this must be the longest it's ever taken me to actually write a chapter. This laptop has been on constant for two months, no turn offs (ever), waiting for me to finish this chapter. I mean, the last couple for HUNTERS REWARD took me some time, and there was the long pause inbetween ten and 11, but this chapter littlerally took me like2 months to write... ok, 1.5 months, since put the previous one on July 2.

So here it is. I was planning on having another chapter just before this one, but I scrapped it. Hardcore. But its not here, this chapter is.

So enjoy the FINALE!!!

* * *

I smelt the wondrous smell once more, as if the sea had lodged itself into my nostrils while I slept in bed. My mind imagined the crashing ocean waves of the first beach I had ever laid eyes on, back on Velia one. Strange, I never took in the detail while I was there.

The soft touch of skin on my arm, warm flesh slowly breathing against me. It was good to feel another person again. Opening my eyes, I half expected the sun to be beating down on me with the fury of the ancient Egyptian gods of old Earth. However, the dim light seeping through my shut blinds highlighted the edge of face before me. I smiled to myself, the calm, tan cheeks resting before me, the dark brown hair tangled in a pleasant mess on my chest.

It's been ages since we've been together in the same room, lifetimes since I've actually bedded a woman, the lust of generation that I've kept bottled up finally released in a moment of brilliant passion. How good it felt to finally _be _with a woman again. She was special, I could tell… She was the person from that night ages ago, back before she left to work with the guild.

Elly was amazing. Her body, fabulous. Her humor, teasing. Her personality, intriguing. To describe her… It seems beyond words… Well, I'm certainly capable to describe her, but I'm not a lawyer anymore, so I don't feel the need to reach for a dictionary… I'll leave my thoughts of her at "lovely".

Remembering our schedule for the day, I took a glance at the clock, past El' on the nightstand. Five fifteen. Still time to meet our seven o'clock flight time. With the inkling to depart from the bed and shower, change, and handle all other essentials, I needed to awake El'. I ran my hand up the side of her bare legs, over her hips, onto her stomach. She moaned, stirring pleasantly from her dream state. And then, while she began to stretch and wiggle against me, I continued my hand navigation northward and took a firm grasp of her breast, giving seductive squeezes.

"Hmmm, good morning," she said.

"Great morning, El'."

"Hmm, what time is it?" she asked after I had moved my hands back to her waist.

"Five… Seventeen. We need to start getting up, or well never get there on time."

"We're going to get there a day early, Alex. It can wait another ten minuets."

"Of course. But then we won't have an entire day to just walk around and enjoy ourselves."

She grumbled something under her breath. Unfortunately, I never was good at hearing grumbles, even at this distance. I suppose she wanted to sleep more. Funny, with the same amount of sleep, she felt terrible while I seemed to have the strength of a well raised ox.

I seemed to nearly hop out of bed, my legs taking off of the sheets with ease. I headed to the bathroom, nude from last nights sexual events, and quickly began to fiddle with the instruments to start up the shower. Soon enough, I was taking a warm, steamy shower, my mind away from the problems of the world and my task ahead. I quickly soaped up and shampooed, ready to get into the fray that was the space port and head to my ship, where Cassandra would greet El' and I as we boarded, perhaps bringing some witty remark about our relationship into the conversation.

Our trek through space would take the whole of one day, as estimated by Cassandra. Afterwards, we'd have the day to relax, party… whatever. A day for us to enjoy the exotic, jungle-covered lands of Shev'Del. It would be hot, certainly, but we would enjoy ourselves, at least until the next day, when we have to get to work.

But first, our departure. I'd have to talk with the port authority and ensure that all of our fees were paid, and then we'd be off to the darkness of space. The black silence would be terrible at first, but good company, such as El' and Cassandra, make things much easier to bear, and allow time to flow much quicker. I can imagine Michael continually talking to Cassandra on his numerous missions, killing time until he arrived at the job site.

To my surprise, El' soon stepped into the shower. I was partly tempted to cover up my morning wood, but I still faced away from her. I felt her hands wrap around my waist, her gazongas press against my back, her head on my shoulder. As if I wasn't hard enough. I heard her moan, and her grip on me tightened ever so slightly.

"You're so firm," she said.

"Are we talking about my muscles or a particular muscle?"

"Both."

I didn't waste any time in turning around. With the water beating own on us from the shower head, I held her tightly, pressing her body to my own. And we kissed. Passionately. I could have restrained myself, I'm sure, but I certainly didn't want to. Soon enough, I had her against the wall, our lust driving us for sex. Her legs wrapped themselves around my waist as I held her to the wall, thrusting her hard at the hip. Her ears perked and pointed as we went at it, and her tail soon joined her legs around my waist, only to spike toward the ground at the moment of our 'gasm.

My hair matted down in the water, as did her ears, yet we huffed into the steam, resting against each other, smiling. Our lips locked once more before I let her down onto her own two feet, and I enjoyed the sensation of her tail slowly brushing up against my waist once more.

I bathed, properly, once more while El' started her first go at soap today. We soon exited, joking, laughing, and with joyful smiles, we changed into good, clean clothing, nothing drenched with the sweat of soon-to-be love-making. And soon, still joking to each other, I lifted our bags and together El' and I headed for the door.

The trip to the space port was quick, and soon we were passing security and heading to the dock to step on board my ship. We were mostly undeterred from heading to Cassandra, and it was with plenty of time to spare when I dropped the bags into the cargo bay.

"Good morning, you two," Cassandra started as we entered the cargo bay. "Sleep well?"

I looked over to El' and, after positive glance, smiled.

"Most certainly," I said.

"You're rather cheerful," Cassandra said. "Just make sure to keep the sex to a minimum, please."

"Only if Alex can keep his sex drive in check," El' remarked. There was a quiet, but happy giggle from the speakers. Michael had certainly programmed her well.

"Excuse me, Alex Spencer?" said a familiar voice from cargo bay door.

I turned around and found Jazz there. Strange, she was smiling, glad to see me. I remember our… moment back on Jaska, but had I left that much of an impression on her? I hoped not. She seemed to glow with joy, certainly happy to see me. She seemed to just dive into me, embracing me happily.

"H-hi, Jazz," I said, surprise clear in my voice. "When did you get here?"

"Yesterday, actually."

"Ahem," El' said, raising her tone substantially to ensure I heard her. Jazz and I instantly pulled away.

"Right, right. Uh, El', this is Jazz Kel. We met when I went to find Samus Aran. Jazz, this is my fiancée, Elly Ha'Rel."

"Pleased to meet you," Jazz said, extending her hand to El'.

"Hi."

They shook hands, and then stepped away from each other, as is normal. I noticed El' seemed to drift a little closer to my arm then before, probably in a defensive mode.

"So, Jazz, how have things been on the Fame?" I asked.

"Oh, everything's been fine. We haven't had any more run-ins with Space Pirates or the Federation, and with Hunter and Hannah on board, we'd always be safe if someone tried to board."

"That's good to hear," I said. "Dandridge still flying people around space?"

"Always. We're pretty much just a delivery service and taxi, flying people and cargo. Course, he makes sure not to take anything illegal. Gotta make sure we don't end up in trouble like before. But enough about me, what about… I mean, you two are getting married, congratulations."

"Thanks," El' and I practically said in time.

"That's so great. I'm so happy for you two. So, have you two set a date yet?"

"Not yet," El' replied. "We're still deciding when to have it."

"We never can seem to agree on a date," I said "What about you? Are you in a relationship?"

"Actually, me and Hunter… Well, he's so sweet."

"Hunter?" I said, confused. "Sweet? I don't quite remember him being sweet."

"You might not think so, but he's really nice. And he's so romantic. When we first went out, he made sure to take me to a very nice restaurant, and after dinner, we went on a beautiful, moon-lit stroll and we talked for hours."

"Dinner, moon-lit stroll… Sounds romantic."

"Yeah, and he-"

Jazz paused suddenly, only to thrust her hand into her pocket and withdraw a small PDA from her pants. She winced lightly, then stowed the PDA.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I've gotta get to the Fame. We're going to be leaving soon."

"Well, you'd better hurry," I said. "You don't need to be getting left behind."

"I won't!"

She began to run for her ship, sifting through the numerous amounts of people walking by. I called out to her as she left, saying goodbye and waving. Jazz returned the motion with a wave of her own, her arm sticking out from the top of the passing crowd.

"She was interesting," El' said.

"Oh, yes," I said. "Very interesting."

"You're not thinking about that time she kissed you, are you?" Cassandra said. At the mere phrase, El' shot me an angry glance.

"It was a long time ago, El'," I said. My arms seemed to shoot up and began to wave before me, as if trying to ward off some evil between myself and El'. "I've only got eyes for you, honest."

"You two kissed?"

"Well, she kissed me… But I didn't kiss back, I swear."

"Right…"

"It's the truth, really. A-ask Cassandra, she saw it."

"Maybe I will," El' said before sulking off, making her way to the second floor. I was sure I was going to hear of this later… This might make things a little awkward, especially if Cassandra doesn't tell her the whole truth.

"Cassandra," I said.

"Yes, Alex?"

"Are we all set to leave?"

"We're ready to leave anytime. You just need to pay the last of your fees and well get out of here."

"Good, good. And Cassandra…"

"Yes?"

"Please don't tell her any lies please. I don't want her calling off the marriage and leaving me."

"I won't."

"You promise?"

"I'll show her the recording I made at the time."

"Okay. I'll be back in a minute."

"Take your time."

And so I hurried over to the financial office. The secretary there made it easy for me to transfer funds to the port, thus paying all of my debts. The transfer did, however, take some time, and I was forced to stay in the office for a few minutes while the secretary handled everything. I stared down the length of the port, my eyes skimming over the metal colors of at least a dozen ships, all the way to the launch pad off in the distance, floating on the edge of the water. Three ships launched quickly into the sky, one of which I recognized to be the Fame.

When the transfer was complete, I started for the door. And I froze. The door opened, and in stepped the blue jump suit I had remembered viewing numerous times months again. The brilliant blue hair. The elegant, beautiful, and strong figure.

"Samus?"

"Alex?"

The secretary wasted no time handling yet another transfer, leaving Samus with a few minutes of spare time before she could leave the office. And we struck up a conversation. We passed the news of my soon to be marriage and my impromptu invitation to her to come, whenever we set the date. Our conversation continued quickly, until we reached the matter of the Federation.

"So," I started, "How did the mission on Talon IV go?"

"Well enough, I suppose. Though having to report to a CO wasn't what I expected."

"Wait a CO? I thought you were just going to work alone then report to the Federation later."

"I thought so too. But after the higher ups learned that you're boss, Germane, had been leaking information to the Space Pirates, he was canned and the Federation attaches me to a CO whenever I take a mission from them."

"Really? I didn't know. After Germane was arrested, Admiral Lars debriefed me personally, but he never told me about you getting a CO. Of course, that was also when I resigned, so I'm sure he didn't feel the need to tell me something that sensitive."

"Wait, you resigned?" asked Samus.

"I did."

"Then what do you do now? How do you make a living?"

"I'm a bounty hunter."

"A bounty hunter?"

"Funny, isn't it? I leave the federation to become a bounty hunter like you. Of course, I don't take on the kind of work you do. I try to stay a little safer, taking transport type of work. Non-illegal work, of course."

"I see."

"Yup. It's been three months now since I left the Federation, and I really don't regret it."

"I guess everything worked out then," Samus said, staring out toward the launch pad, just as I had.

"Samus…"

"Yes?" she said, returning her attention to me once more. Her air whipped about a bit as she turned her head, her golden hair flashing in the light.

"You're commanding officer. What's his name?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity. Perhaps I've worked with him before."

"Adam Malkovich."

"Malkovich… Nope, I don't recall the name."

"Oh well."

We fell silent once more. I glanced over to Cassandra, inspecting the shut cargo hold, perhaps a precautionary measurement that Cassandra took on her own.

"I have a question, Alex."

"Yeah?"

"Adam insists on calling me "Lady." Do you know why?"

""Lady?"… I've got no idea. I would have expected him to say Ma'am, seeing as he is Federation."

"I know. It's really strange… Though he says it with such respect, it's better then being addressed formally"

And we fell silent again. The silence didn't last long though, as the secretary soon announced that Samus docking fees were officially paid, and that she could walk planet side. On that note, Samus and I walked out of the room, and together we headed down toward my ship, which was on the way to the exit which Samus would have leave through.

Samus refused to step aboard the ship so that I could let her meet El'. Cassandra did, however, make it a point to greet Samus through the speakers, and she did reply.

And then she hugged me. It wasn't expecting it. I was sure that she was still just a little angry at me for the loss of Michael, but I guess she's had time to think everything through. I returned the hug, and then we soon parted from each other.

"Thank you, Alex."

"Um… No problem?"

"I guess this is goodbye."

"For now at least."

And so she left. I waved to her as she walked away. Once she was out of sight, I entered the ship and headed upstairs as Cassandra shut the cargo bay. It would be only a matter of minutes until we were ready to leave for space.

* * *

ITS OVER!!! (9000!)

IF you enjoyed this... Good. if not... Sorry for wasting your time.

I'm sure there were plenty of grammer errors. Word isn't the best... STILL.

So... Yeah. It's done. I'll see what I can pull out of my bungolo later, but for now, TAKE IT EASY.

Reviews please, thanks all for reading!


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